MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Lula's team wants Bolsonaro's party fined for improper ad spending

Lula's team argued that the PL exceeded the expenses allowed for in the pre-campaign period. Photo: EFE

A group of political parties supporting the candidacy of former President Luiz Inácio Lula Da Silva to return to the Planalto Palace after the October elections, Monday requested the Superior Electoral Court (TSE) to fine incumbent President Jair Bolsonaro's Liberal Party (PL) for what they considered was illegal campaign spending.

The PT, PV, and PCdoB want the PL to be charged R$ 1.48 million (US$ 276,200) for spending half that much on YouTube advertising over the weekend, according to G1.

They also want the TSE to halt the advertising campaign around the figure of President Jair Bolsonaro.

The ad was released last weekend, before the PL convention in which Bolsonaro launched his candidacy for reelection (video below).

TSE rapporteur n the case will be Justice Raul Araujo, it was announced.

According to Google's transparency platform, the PL spent R$ 742,000 on videos lasting 15 to 30 seconds to be aired Saturday and Sunday, promoting the motto and the jingle “Captain of the People”.

Most of the money for boosting the ads was directed to the Northeast and Southeast, regions where the difference in favor of Lula, according to polls, is greater, G1 said.

Lula's advisors argued that broadcasting such material was in breach of “the rules of propaganda in the pre-campaign period” and exceeds the “duty of moderation of spending on boosting” on social networks as provided for by the electoral legislation.

“The result of this communication strategy was, in the end, the broadcasting of the videos in all units of the federation, with the reach of more than 81 million views on their content within 72 hours,” the plaintiffs maintained. And “such a movement did not go unnoticed by users of digital platforms or by media outlets, which had already denounced what was called the 'flood' of ads on YouTube.”

In addition to halting the broadcasting of these ads, the PT, PV, and PCdoB also requested a fine of twice the amount spent on YouTube by the PL.

Lula's team argued that the PL exceeded the expenses allowed for in the pre-campaign period.