Brazil's Ministry of Justice and Public Security asked on Saturday (17) that the ANPD, the country's data protection authority, investigate whether Meta, the owner of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, is violating the Marco Civil da Internet, Brazil's 2014 internet bill of rights. The news was reported by G1, which so far is the only outlet to cover the request. The ministry also forwarded the information to the Federal Prosecutor's Office (MPF).
The request followed reports received by the ministry that the platform has been blocking and restricting content without telling users which rule they broke. It is like being expelled from a club without anyone pointing to the clause you violated: without knowing the reason, there is no way to appeal the decision.
What the ministry wants Meta to explain
According to G1, the document asks the agency to demand detailed information from Meta on how the company moderates content in Brazil:
about the rules and procedures for moderation and complaint management, the transparency reports, the records of reported cases, the criteria and records of reach reduction, the mechanisms against coordinated reporting, the advertiser verification procedures
The request comes two weeks before the presidential runoff, amid complaints about restrictions on political accounts. Folha de S.Paulo reported the day before that Meta admitted in internal messages that restrictions on its platforms had harmed accounts linked to the campaign of President Lula, who is seeking reelection against Senator Flávio Bolsonaro. Until then, the company had denied interfering in the election and blamed the problems on technical incidents.
The Marco Civil works as the code of conduct for the Brazilian internet: it sets out user rights and provider obligations, including rules on liability and transparency in content removal. Routing the request through the ANPD puts the case under the lens of the agency that oversees how companies handle personal data, which suggests the government also wants to examine how Meta uses data and automated systems in its moderation decisions.
It is worth looking at the company's incentives. Meta makes money from attention and advertising, and moderating billions of posts with human reviewers is expensive. That is why most blocking and reach-reduction decisions are made by automated systems, and explaining each case individually is exactly the kind of cost the company avoids. This does not prove bad faith, but it helps explain why the notices sent to users are usually generic.
What we still do not know: whether the blocks were a technical error, a response to coordinated mass reporting, or a deliberate moderation decision. The G1 report does not say whether Meta has responded to the ministry's letter, and there is no public deadline for the ANPD to reply. For users, the practical advice is to keep screenshots of any restriction notice and file formal complaints through the company's channels. It is also worth watching the ANPD's next steps: if the agency opens a formal proceeding, Meta could be forced to detail, case by case, the reasons for every block it makes in Brazil.