Brazil Judge Restores 3.4M-Member Lula WhatsApp Channel

BRAZIL · COURTS

A second judge at Brazil’s electoral court has lifted a ban on a pro-Lula channel hosted by a US-owned messaging app.

A pro-Lula channel on WhatsApp, owned by US company Meta Platforms, may operate again after a Brazilian judge overturned its suspension. Ricardo Villas Bôas Cueva, the electoral court’s inspector-general, reversed the order on Sunday afternoon, 11 October, state news agency Agência Brasil reported.

Earlier on Sunday, Kassio Nunes Marques, president of the Superior Electoral Court (TSE), had ordered WhatsApp to suspend it. The reversal leaves a US platform between two judges of the same court, two weeks before the 25 October runoff.

What the Judge Decided

Cueva, the rapporteur of the case, restored the channel provisionally until the court’s full bench rules, the Bahia Econômica news site reported. He left room to reconsider if new facts justify a stricter measure.

Suspending a whole channel “exige demonstração da extensão e da reiteração das condutas,” he wrote. That means proof of how widespread and repeated the conduct is.

Milder steps against individual posts must first be shown to fall short, he added. In his view, the suspension came before evidence-gathering in the case was finished.

Federal deputy André Janones created the channel, “Exército do Lula” (Lula’s Army), to back President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Janones represents Minas Gerais for Rede Sustentabilidade, a small environmentalist party that supports Lula.

Why the Channel Was Suspended

Flávio Bolsonaro’s campaign asked for the suspension. It argued the channel spread disinformation about cuts to Bolsa Família cash transfers and to pensions.

Flávio is a senator for the conservative Liberal Party (PL) and son of former president Jair Bolsonaro. He faces Lula, of the left-wing Workers’ Party (PT), in the runoff.

Nunes Marques said the channel repeated content the court had already judged untrue, Agência Brasil reported. One example was a claim that Flávio favoured dropping Our Lady of Aparecida as Brazil’s patron saint.

Nunes Marques is a Supreme Court justice appointed by Jair Bolsonaro in 2020. Cueva sits on the Superior Court of Justice (STJ), Brazil’s top court for non-constitutional cases.

The Case Behind the Dispute

On Saturday, 10 October, the TSE said Cueva had admitted Flávio’s abuse case against Lula, running mate Geraldo Alckmin and Janones. The filing seeks to strip Lula and Alckmin of their registration and to suspend the channel.

Cueva ordered no suspension then. He gave Flávio 72 hours to supply more information, and the defendants five days to file their defence.

The court stressed that admitting the case does not mean the allegations are true.

Before the reversal, Janones said “A censura já começou” (censorship has already begun), Agência Brasil reported. Lula told journalists in São Paulo he would not accept “intromissão indevida da Justiça Eleitoral” (undue interference by the electoral court).

Lula’s campaign had called the suspension a cause of “estranheza e revolta” (surprise and outrage), Poder360 reported.

What It Means for You

For US investors in Meta, two opposite orders in one day show how fast Brazilian judges can direct a US platform. Earlier on Sunday, WhatsApp had been given three hours to switch the channel off.

For holders of Brazilian assets, the runoff sets economic policy from January 2027. Court fights over online campaigning add noise to a race that bets favour Flávio to win.

What Prediction Markets Say

On Polymarket, with about US$180 million traded on the election, bets gave Lula a 12.5% chance at 4:27 p.m. ET on Sunday. On Kalshi, which the US CFTC regulates, Flávio stood at 87% and Lula at 13% at 11:07 a.m. ET.

Why we show this: prediction markets turn real-money bets into a live probability that moves within minutes of the news, which is why investors, campaigns and newsrooms in the United States now follow them closely. We show them next to polls and official results, never instead of them.

What Is Not Known

It is not known whether WhatsApp had reactivated the channel by Sunday evening. No TSE note on Cueva’s decision had been published.

It is unclear when the full court will rule, or whether Flávio’s campaign will challenge the reversal.

What Comes Next

The abuse case continues, with Flávio’s 72-hour and the defendants’ five-day deadlines running this week. Monday, 12 October, is a national holiday in Brazil.

The full TSE bench must still decide whether the channel stays open until the runoff on Sunday, 25 October.

Background: Brazil Tax Reform 2026 Replaces Five Taxes With Two VATs.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who restored the “Exército do Lula” channel?

Ricardo Villas Bôas Cueva, the electoral court’s inspector-general and rapporteur of the case, restored it. He overturned the suspension on Sunday afternoon, 11 October.

Why did he lift the suspension?

He said suspending a whole channel requires proof of how widespread and repeated the conduct is. Milder steps against individual posts must first be shown to fail.

Who ordered the original suspension?

TSE president Kassio Nunes Marques ordered it earlier on Sunday at the request of Flávio Bolsonaro’s campaign. He said the channel repeated content the court had judged untrue.

When is Brazil’s presidential runoff?

Brazilians choose between Flávio Bolsonaro and Lula on Sunday, 25 October. The full electoral court has yet to rule on the channel.

Sources: Agência Brasil, 11 October 2026; Superior Electoral Court (TSE), 10 October 2026; Bahia Econômica, 11 October 2026; Poder360 on the Lula campaign; Poder360 on Lula (all accessed 11 October 2026).