TSE Justice André Mendonça issued separate emergency orders against messaging aimed at presidential candidate Flávio Bolsonaro, finding that both paid campaign advertising and posts on a union’s institutional account crossed electoral-law limits.¹

In the case involving President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s campaign, Mendonça barred the campaign from boosting Facebook ads that said Flávio opposed ending the six-days-on, one-day-off work schedule known as 6x1. Paid political ads are generally permitted, but the justice concluded that using money to expand a message that was predominantly negative about an opponent is expressly prohibited. Meta was ordered to disable the ads and disclose the amounts paid by the PT campaign.¹

The dispute comes as the Senate prepares to vote on a proposed constitutional amendment ending the 6x1 schedule. The Lula campaign’s message presented Flávio and his Liberal Party, or PL, as opponents of the proposal; Mendonça’s ruling did not resolve the underlying policy dispute, instead focusing on the method used to distribute the material.¹

In a separate case brought by Flávio’s campaign, Mendonça gave the Central Única dos Trabalhadores, or CUT, three hours to remove five Instagram posts. The posts linked Flávio to issues including pensions, the minimum wage, Pix payments and the work schedule, while one also compared him directly with Lula. Mendonça said the material went beyond presenting the union’s institutional positions, identifying the candidate and seeking to discourage votes for him.²

The rulings recognize that unions may participate in public debate, but draw a distinction between that participation and using an organization’s official channels to promote or harm named candidacies. CUT faces a daily fine of 5,000 reais if it does not comply, although Mendonça rejected Flávio’s broader request to prohibit any future political-electoral statements by the union.¹

Flávio’s campaign has described the claims as false and says he would preserve social programs, pension protections and free Pix transfers. He said: “Nobody is going to touch social programs.”² The merits of the challenged claims and any further electoral penalties are still to be considered after CUT’s defense and input from electoral prosecutors.¹