It sounds like a science fiction plot, but it was on the docket Tuesday night (September 1) in Brasilia. Brazil's Superior Electoral Court (TSE), the country's top electoral authority, began judging the case expected to define how the deepfake ban will work in this year's election, one of the central fights of the campaign. The dispute grew out of an AI-generated video of former president Jair Bolsonaro, shown at the party convention where the PL confirmed Senator Flávio Bolsonaro as its presidential candidate.
In the recording, an avatar of the former president says he is "jailed and silenced by an arbitrary decision", claims that "no prison will silence the feeling of hope" and asks supporters to welcome Flávio Bolsonaro "with open arms". Bolsonaro is serving a sentence of 27 years and 3 months, and since March 24 he has been under humanitarian house arrest, granted by Justice Alexandre de Moraes for an initial 90 days so he could recover from bronchopneumonia. The lawsuit was filed by the Brasil da Esperança federation, formed by the PT, PCdoB and PV, which calls the video premature campaign advertising and a way around court restrictions imposed on the former president.
What the court is expected to decide
The rule already exists on paper. An electoral resolution approved this year bans the use, to favor or harm candidacies, of synthetic audio or video that creates, replaces or alters the image or voice of living, deceased or fictional people, even with their consent. What is missing is knowing how it will be enforced, and that is what the full bench is expected to settle. According to G1, ministers privately indicate the court is likely to keep the veto whenever the content reaches a high degree of realism. One detail matters in practice: a label disclosing that AI was used does not make the content legal.
The expected punishment is a fine, plus removal of the video. Harsher sanctions, such as revoking a candidacy, would be reserved for cases with proven gravity, repeat offenses and impact on the race. Memes, caricatures and satirical montages that do not try to convincingly reproduce reality should get different treatment. The ruling is also expected to shut the door on the so-called "deepfake for good", made in favor of a candidate, which some campaigns wanted allowed.
Flávio Bolsonaro's campaign told the TSE the video broke no electoral law, because the use of technology was not hidden and viewers were told it was not an authentic recording. His lawyers called it a "technological puppet" and compared the resource to masks and papier-mache figures long used in campaigns. Anyone who remembers the Tupac hologram at Coachella in 2012 knows the effect of a virtual presence that feels real. On this specific case, the Valdo Cruz blog at G1 reports the bench is likely to split: one side favors a fine, arguing part of the audience could believe the speech was authentic; the other sees no ground for punishment because the video played at a closed party event.
The story has been building for weeks. On August 18, according to Agência Brasil, TSE president Kassio Nunes Marques called a closed-door meeting of ministers to align the court's strategy against deepfakes, and Justice André Mendonça has already signaled, in individual rulings, that an artificial visual resource does not automatically amount to an electoral violation. Where to watch: TSE plenary sessions stream live on TV Justiça, the judiciary's channel, and on the court's official YouTube channel. The first round of the election is October 4, with a possible runoff on October 25.