Gonzalez had publicly denounced international pressure and interference in Latin American political affairs.
On Thursday, Former Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa denounced the arrest of Luisa Gonzalez, a former presidential candidate and one of the leading figures in the Citizen Revolution movement.
On social media, Correa criticized Gonzalez’s arrest and expressed his disapproval of the measure, accompanying his message with slogans of support for the leader and her political organization.
Andean Parliamentarian Virgilio Hernandez joined in the denunciation, asserting that Gonzalez has been the target of political persecution and expressing concern about the lack of official information regarding her whereabouts following her arrest.
Meanwhile, Ecuadorian media cited police sources who preliminarily “confirmed” the former candidate’s arrest, although authorities had not initially provided complete details about the procedure.
🔴 Gabriela Rivadeneira denuncia el secuestro de Luisa González y exige su liberación inmediata
La presidenta del movimiento Revolución Ciudadana, Gabriela Rivadeneira, denunció que la excandidata presidencial Luisa González ha sido secuestrada y exigió su inmediata liberación,… pic.twitter.com/77XQVmE70E
The text reads, “Gabriela Rivadeneira, president of the Citizen Revolution, denounced the kidnapping of Luisa Gonzalez and demanded her immediate release, following her arrest in the early hours of Thursday, October 22, in the Ecuadorian province of Manabi.”
The case comes weeks after the Electoral Disputes Tribunal upheld the disqualification that prevented Gonzalez from running for Prefect of Manabi, a decision that was challenged by her supporters and political allies.
Days before her arrest, the leader had publicly denounced international pressure and interference in Latin American political affairs, and warned of what she considers a strategy of judicial persecution against progressive sectors in the region.
The leadership of the Citizen Revolution movement demanded immediate information on Gonzalez’s condition and whereabouts, while also calling for guarantees that her rights will be respected during the ongoing legal proceedings.
#FromTheSouth News Bits | Ecuador: Delegations from all provinces participated in the first day of the National Convention of the Citizen Revolution Movement, which was held in Manta, Manabi province. pic.twitter.com/1bGT3DeLKo
He assured that an operation is already underway to locate and rescue four Salvadorans in Haiti.
On Wednesday, Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele issued a stern warning to Haitian gangs after the kidnapping of four Salvadoran citizens who were part of an international security mission deployed in Haiti.
The four missing men are members of the Gang Suppression Force, a United Nations-backed unit tasked with combating armed groups that control large swathes of the Caribbean country.
According to reports, the Salvadorans were ambushed last Sunday while returning to their base from a supermarket in the town of Croix-des-Bouquets, on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince.
The armored vehicle they were traveling in was hit by explosives and caught fire during the attack. Although the soldiers managed to escape the vehicle, their whereabouts have been unknown since.
Bukele assured that an operation is already underway to locate and rescue the four Salvadorans. The president emphasized that the hostages are technicians and support staff dedicated to humanitarian work and medical evacuations.
🇸🇻🇭🇹 Bukele inicia operación militar en Haití para rescatar a cuatro connacionales
🚨 El presidente de El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, arrancó esta estrategia ante el presunto secuestro de cuatro técnicos militares retenidos por pandillas haitianas.
The text reads, “Bukele Launches Military Operation in Haiti to Rescue Four Nationals. The president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, kicked off this strategy in response to the alleged kidnapping of four military technicians held by Haitian gangs.”
The president warned gang leaders that the current operation “is nothing compared to what’s coming” if the hostages are not released alive. At the same time, he offered the “possibility” of avoiding further consequences through their prompt release.
Bukele also reiterated that his government has launched an intense offensive against gangs in El Salvador and affirmed that it will act decisively to protect its citizens.
The Gang Suppression Force and special units of the Haitian National Police are maintaining operations in the area where the kidnapping occurred. During recent clashes, several members of armed groups were killed.
The incident comes amid the serious security crisis in Haiti, where thousands of people have died in recent years due to gang violence. Haitian Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aime described the search for the four Salvadorans as an absolute priority for the country’s authorities.
The selected productions will screen on public television and the digital platform Nuestro Cine MX.
Mexico will commemorate World Day for Audiovisual Heritage with a special program organized by cultural institutions, including film screenings, premieres, and activities to promote the preservation of the nation’s film heritage.
Between October 27 and November 3, seven films from the collection of the Mexican Film Institute (IMCINE) will be screened in eleven independent venues across nine states.
The selected productions will also screen on public television and the digital platform Nuestro Cine MX, expanding public access to materials considered part of Mexico’s audiovisual heritage.
One of the program’s main attractions will be the screening of the restored version of “Valle de Mexico” (1976), a short documentary by Ruben Gamez that portrays the region’s rapid urban growth during the 1970s.
Celebramos el Día Mundial del Patrimonio Audiovisual con una programación dedicada a la preservación de la memoria fílmica mexicana. 🎞️
La función reunirá cortometrajes restaurados y materiales digitalizados que forman parte de nuestro acervo. Entre ellos, se proyectará por… pic.twitter.com/sh3TBUb206
The text reads, “We celebrate World Audiovisual Heritage Day with a program dedicated to the preservation of Mexican filmic memory. The screening will feature restored short films and digitized materials that are part of our collection.”
The restoration of this film was carried out by IMCINE in collaboration with Estudios Churubusco, using a positive print preserved in the archives of the National Film Archive (Cineteca Nacional).
The program also includes outstanding Mexican films such as “Un cuento de ciudad,” “Amada,” “El héroe,” “Hasta los huesos,” “El fantasma del convento,” and “Cronos,” works by renowned Mexican filmmakers.
Secretary of Culture Claudia Curiel said these activities reflect the institution’s commitment to preserving audiovisual heritage, as well as to encouraging new generations to learn about their history through Mexican cinema.
Crisis Unleashes Deadly Floods Across Latin America and Europe
Deadly floods strike three continents: at least 3,000 families are affected in Paraguay; 10 people have died in Mexico due to Cold Front 2; and six have been killed in Spain by Storm Adam, which has forced more than… pic.twitter.com/XMZ0nC3qo4
Operations targeting facilities linked to the Iranian nuclear program are being evaluated.
On Wednesday, U.S. media outlets reported on the possibility of new U.S. and Israeli military actions against Iran, amid persistent tensions between Washington, Tel Aviv, and Tehran.
Authorities from both countries are reportedly evaluating various scenarios related to “regional security” and the Iranian nuclear program, considered a major source of “concern” for its Western allies.
Among the options being considered are operations targeting facilities linked to the Iranian nuclear program, including infrastructure considered strategic by Western intelligence and defense services.
Speculation has intensified following the recent visit to Israel by U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, who met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to discuss the situation in the Middle East.
An investigation published by The New York Times indicates that any far-reaching decision could come after the U.S. midterm elections scheduled for next November.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz: "I said Southern Lebanon would become Gaza. We applied the Rafah model. Destroy everything. 24 villages flattened. 15,000-20,000 homes destroyed. Infrastructure demolished."
Only Israel can brag about committing genocide in broad daylight -…
In addition to a potential military response, reports suggest the possibility of increased economic pressure on Iran through new sanctions and financial restrictions.
U.S. President Donald Trump has not publicly confirmed the adoption of new measures, although the matter continues to be debated in strategic circles in Washington and Tel Aviv.
Meanwhile, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz stated that his country’s occupatory forces are prepared to act “preventively” and “defensively” against any possible Iranian attack during the Israeli electoral process scheduled for October 27.
Katz asserted that the army is “ready to intervene” immediately in operational and intelligence matters, while Iranian authorities have reiterated that they will respond proportionally to any aggression.
#FromTheSouth News Bits | During a meeting with Israeli President Isaac Herzog in Baku, Azerbaijan, China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi urged Israel to halt and reverse the establishment of settlements in the West Bank, which is occupied Palestinian territory. pic.twitter.com/xm7RduwpW6
UK public debt crossed the £3 trillion mark for the first time at the end of September 2026, the National Statistics Office reported on Wednesday, October 21.
The accumulated public sector liabilities stood at £3.005 trillion, equivalent to €3.57 trillion, according to the provisional estimate released by the National Statistics Office. The figure represented 94 percent of UK gross domestic product and marked a historic high, the agency reported.
The balance grew by £91.7 billion compared with the level recorded twelve months earlier, about €109.074 billion, according to the provisional estimate.
Despite the nominal record, the weight of the liabilities on the economy as a whole fell by seven tenths compared with the 2025 level, the agency reported. The agency recalled that net debt exceeded £2 trillion in June 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, and had surpassed £1 trillion in February 2010, following the global financial crisis.
September public borrowing amounted to £24.5 billion, or €29.142 billion, and was the second highest recorded for that month, according to the National Statistics Office. Only the September 2020 figure, unadjusted for inflation, was higher. Compared with the previous year, the imbalance increased by £1.8 billion, or 7.7 percent, because spending growth outpaced income growth, the agency reported.
Britain’s national debt has climbed above £3tn for the first time, underlining the pressure on the public finances before John Healey’s maiden Budget next week
Central government debt interest reached £10.9 billion in September, the highest figure recorded in the ninth month of the year since monthly records began in 1997, according to the National Statistics Office.
Annual inflation stood at 3.5 percent in September, four tenths above the August figure and the largest increase since October 2025, according to the National Statistics Office. The price of goods rose 3.2 percent year on year, compared with 2.7 percent in August, while services became 3.7 percent more expensive. Core inflation, which excludes energy, food, alcohol and tobacco, advanced to 2.8 percent, two tenths more than in August.
Humanity will exceed the Paris Agreement’s 1.5 °C global warming threshold, but the temperature peak can still be contained between 1.7 and 1.8 °C by mid-century, UNEP warned in its most recent report.
To return to 1.5 °C by the end of the century, countries must cut global emissions by 18 percent by 2030, 45 percent by 2035 and 69 percent by 2040, according to the report.
Global warming will overshoot 1.5°C in the coming years.
There’s still a chance to bring temperatures back down, but the window is closing fast.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres declared that surpassing the limit did not mean giving up, referring to the need to maintain ambitious climate targets despite the overshoot.
UNEP Executive Director Inger Andersen stressed that each additional fraction of a degree and each extra year of warming above 1.5 °C would worsen climate impacts and risks, including deadly floods, heat waves and wildfires that have swept numerous countries this year, and said all possible efforts were needed to limit the peak and return to 1.5 °C by the end of the century, which she said was possible.
The chance to keep global warming below 1.5°C with no overshoot is gone.
But urgent action can still limit the overshoot and bring warming back to 1.5°C by 2100.
Current policies, however, put the 🌎 on course for up to 2.8°C this century.
Continuing current policies will cause a catastrophic increase of 2.8 °C over this century, with a sustained rise in subsequent years, the document warns.
Ahead of the start of the second Global Stocktake at COP31 in Antalya, Türkiye, UNEP set concrete fossil fuel reduction targets relative to 2025 levels.
By 2035, the agency proposes reducing coal supply by 55 percent, oil by 15 percent and gas by 5 percent; by 2040, it proposes raising the cuts to 75 percent for coal, 30 percent for oil and 35 percent for gas.
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s campaign confirmed that the Brazilian president accepted lifting the bank and telephone secrecy of the candidates and their families before Sunday’s runoff election, a proposal aimed at his opponent, Flávio Bolsonaro.
At a press conference, Camilo Santana, campaign coordinator for the Workers’ Party (PT), explained that the head of state seeking reelection has no problem with the conditions imposed by the other side. Santana said that regarding all the conditions Flávio has set, the president’s response is that he does not oppose anything proposed, as long as Flávio complies with and discloses everything contained in the request filed with the Superior Electoral Court (TSE).
The PT team specified that Thursday at 11:00 a.m. local time is the deadline for the far-right Liberal Party candidate to release his financial data and that of his circle, adding that Bolsonaro cannot wait until after the elections and that the deadline expires tomorrow.
The topic stems from last Sunday’s televised debate, in which Lula challenged the far-right senator to disclose the bank accounts of both candidates to show “who is honest and who is a thief.”
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said he would submit authorization to the Superior Electoral Court (TSE) to lift bank secrecy protections on his accounts and those of his family members.
After the debate, the president presented a formal authorization before the electoral body on Tuesday to release his data and that of his wife and children, but Bolsonaro responded that he would only agree if the review were extended to people linked to the government’s circle.
The PT has accepted the conditions and added to the review the finances of former chief of staff Marco Aurélio Santana Ribeiro and of the president’s brother, José Ferreira da Silva, as well as the record of businesswoman Roberta Luchsinger’s access to the Presidential Palace.
After accepting the requests, the Workers’ Party team questioned the opposition’s delay in joining the initiative. Santana said that if Bolsonaro owes nothing, he should have accepted President Lula’s challenge last Sunday.
LULA CHALLENGES FLÁVIO BOLSONARO to open their BANK ACCOUNTS & PHONE RECORDS to prove who is ‘CORRUPT’ ahead of elections
‘I OPEN MINE, MY ENTIRE FAMILY’S — AND YOU OPEN YOURS’
The U.S. denied entry to Puerto Rico to former Barcelona mayor and left-wing Frente Amplio presidential candidate Ada Colau, who had planned to attend the Ciudades Valientes municipalist gathering in Caguas on November 3 and 4, a decision sources close to her attribute to ideological reasons and her pro-Palestine activism.
Colau’s delegation was cleared through the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) required due to the island’s colonial status, but her own application was denied. She was then advised to attend a personal interview at the embassy in Madrid. During that meeting two weeks ago, diplomatic staff focused their questions on her position on the conflict, with sources close to her saying the entire interview dealt with the Flotilla and her pro-Palestinian activism, with repeated insistence on the three days she was detained in Israel.
After the interview, U.S. authorities issued a definitive denial, citing suspicion that she wants to illegally migrate to the country.
Colau rejected the measure and denounced it as evident political censorship, pointing out that while Javier Milei can travel freely to Spain to insult the press and the public, Donald Trump prohibits her from entering Puerto Rico, which she described as a colony occupied by the United States. She made the statement in response to the ban.
Es inaceptable e injustificado negarle la visa para Puerto Rico a @AdaColau por ser pacifista y defensora de derechos humanos. El @DeptEstadoPR deberia intervenir al igual que el Comisionado Residente @RepPabloJose exigir una investigación (congressional inquiry) sobre este…
The former mayor, who governed Barcelona between 2015 and 2023, visited the Caribbean archipelago in April 2024 to address urban planning, access to housing, human rights and the role of women in politics.
Puerto Rico has remained under U.S. dominion since 1898 after the Treaty of Paris, and although since 1952 it has held the status of Free Associated State with its own constitution, the United States maintains exclusive control over immigration, customs, defense and currency.
A U.S. court ordered Meta, the owner of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, to pay $25 billion for deceiving the public about how it protects personal data, in a case tied to the Cambridge Analytica scandal.
Judge Francis Mathew set the fine on Wednesday after a jury determined that Facebook made misleading promises about who could access user data and how that information was protected, according to the ruling. The jury found 26 statements by Meta made between 2010 and 2021 to be misleading, including some by CEO Mark Zuckerberg and then-chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg.
In his ruling, Mathew wrote that Facebook’s misconduct, developed over years and systematically disseminated to the public, went to the core of its business practices. According to the ruling, the company maintained those promises despite internal warnings that it could not fulfill them, and allowed certain business partners to retain access to data it had announced it would stop sharing in order to avoid losing revenue. The judge concluded that the messages sought to build trust and attract users, whose data are essential to the company’s personalized advertising business.
The case is deeply tied to Cambridge Analytica, a British consulting firm that worked for Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and obtained data from millions of Facebook users without consent to promote political advertising, according to a statement from the New Mexico Department of Justice. Revelations about the firm, made public in 2018, affected up to 87 million profiles and sparked an international scandal over the use of personal information by social networks and their role in electoral campaigns. The trial also examined what Facebook said publicly about its efforts to combat disinformation and hate speech.
Although the judge initially calculated a fine of more than $219 billion, he ultimately reduced the amount to $25 billion, which will accrue annual interest of 15% until effective payment. The money will go to New Mexico’s education system, although the attorney general warned that an appeal by Meta could delay the availability of the funds.
New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez presented the decision as one of the largest financial penalties against a company in U.S. history.
Venezuela’s national government and former deputies of the 2015 National Assembly held the final plenary of the third cycle of talks in Caracas on Wednesday, centered on reviewing compliance with agreements on institutional matters and renewal of the judicial system.
This phase covered the review of commitments from the second cycle, which concluded Sept. 25 with partial agreements on lifting restrictions on digital news portals, adding guarantees for the right to information and progress in judicial renewal.
The agenda also included installing the Credentials Review Council for applicants to the Supreme Court of Justice as part of discussions on the judicial system.
The government delegation was headed by National Assembly President Jorge Rodríguez and included deputies Pedro Infante, Jorge Arreaza and América Pérez, Minister of University Education Ana María Sanjuan and Deputy Minister Génesis Garvett. The 2015 Assembly delegation included Dinorah Figuera, accompanied by Juan Miguel Matheus, Sergio Vergara, Marco Aurelio Quiñones and Ramón López.
The formal talks began Aug. 12, when both parties agreed on a working methodology and installed technical tables on care for earthquake victims, democratic strengthening and judicial system reforms.
The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention issued an urgent call for international solidarity Wednesday, warning that the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola is spreading faster and across a wider geographic area than any previous outbreak of its kind.
The alert followed confirmation by Nigeria’s government on Tuesday of the country’s first case, a woman who arrived in the capital Abuja on an international flight from Uganda, who remains isolated under medical care while authorities work to contain any possible transmission.
Nigeria has become the fourth nation on the continent to report confirmed infections, joining the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda and Kenya.
Jean Kaseya, director general of Africa CDC, described the gravity of the moment in direct terms. “We cannot allow this outbreak to spread to more countries or continue for another year,” he said, stressing that the virus has now achieved the widest geographic reach in the history of the disease.
"This Ebola outbreak is no longer one country's fight."
Africa CDC Director General H.E. @Dr_JeanKaseya calls on every @_AfricanUnion Member State to detect early, trace every contact and protect health workers. On the 28th of October, he will be convening Africa's ministers of… https://t.co/7esmXLjk1N
The current episode stands as the second deadliest Ebola outbreak ever recorded worldwide, with more than 4,600 deaths across the region. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo alone, the toll has surpassed 4,205, a figure that underscores how deeply the epidemic has taken root there even as it extends into new territory.
Kaseya framed the response as inseparable from global security. “Every day of delay costs lives. Africa’s health security is global health security. Stopping Ebola in Africa today means protecting the world,” he said, adding that Nigeria has the agency’s total solidarity and that the outbreak must be defeated together.
Africa CDC had already anticipated the crisis. In May 2026 the specialized agency of the African Union declared a public health emergency of continental security, a warning that positioned the region’s institutions ahead of the current escalation. The agency has since begun mobilizing assistance toward Nigerian territory while reinforcing response operations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya and Uganda.
Urgent Call for Funding
Kaseya directed his appeal beyond the continent, telling the international community what the response requires. “We need immediate and flexible funding, medical supplies, diagnostic tests, trained response personnel and stronger community surveillance,” he said.
The public health agency of the African Union has moved quickly to convert the appeal into action. On Wednesday it invited the region’s health ministers to a virtual meeting scheduled for October 28, where they will debate the spread of the virus and coordinate next steps. The gathering arrives less than a week after Nigeria’s first confirmed case, a timeline that reflects the urgency Kaseya has attached to the response.
Nigeria’s entry into the outbreak carries particular weight. The country is the most populous on the continent, and its capital’s connection to an international flight from Uganda raises questions about how far the virus may have traveled before detection. For now, the patient remains the single confirmed case in the country. But the presence of the disease in Abuja, rather than in a border community, changes the calculus for responders who must now trace contacts across a dense urban network. The woman’s isolation is one line of defense; the contact tracing around her is another, and both depend on the resources Africa CDC is struggling to assemble.
The outbreak’s trajectory since May has followed the pattern Kaseya warned about. Declared an emergency when still confined to a smaller footprint, it has now breached four national borders and shows no sign of slowing. The October 28 meeting of health ministers will test whether that warning has finally translated into the funding and supplies that African institutions have been requesting for months.
United States has denied former Barcelona Mayor Ada Colau permission to travel to Puerto Rico, where she was due to take part in a municipalist forum next month, a decision that sources close to her link to her pro-Palestinian activism.
Ada Colau, a candidate for the Frente Amplio, had planned to attend the Ciudades Valientes meeting on November 3 and 4 in the municipality of Caguas in central Puerto Rico. When she applied for the digital travel authorization known as ESTA (Electronic System for Travel Authorization), U.S. authorities approved the members of her delegation but denied her request. She was then advised to attend an in-person interview at the U.S. embassy in Madrid.
According to people close to Colau, the interview held two weeks ago focused on her position on the conflict in Gaza. “The entire interview was about the Flotilla and her pro-Palestinian activism, with a lot of insistence on the three days she was held in Israel,” they said.
After the interview, U.S. authorities issued a final denial, citing “suspicion that she wants to migrate illegally to the country.”
“This is a clear case of political censorship. And it is a disgrace, because while we see that Javier Milei can travel freely to our country to insult the press and citizens in general, his friend Donald Trump bans me from entering a country like Puerto Rico, which is a colony occupied by the United States,” Colau said.
The US has refused to grant a visa to former Barcelona mayor Ada Colau over her participation in the Global Sumud Flotilla and her support for Palestine.
Colau had been invited to attend a meeting convened by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani. pic.twitter.com/TuEEQasz9x
Ada Colau governed Barcelona between 2015 and 2023. She had traveled to the Caribbean archipelago in April 2024 to discuss urban planning, access to housing, human rights and the role of women in politics. During that visit, at a conference on government and citizen participation, she advocated for truth, justice and reparation in the face of European colonization in Latin America.
The prohibition echoes other restrictions imposed by Washington on figures critical of its foreign policy. The same administration has repeatedly denied a visa to Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas to attend the United Nations General Assembly. In Colau’s case, the stated rationale of immigration risk collides with a documented history of official visits and public conferences.
Event Agenda Unchanged
The decision keeps the event in Caguas and preserves the original schedule rather than postponing or relocating it.
The Puerto Rican collective confirmed that its upcoming event will keep its original agenda, and that the political leader will participate remotely. “Ada will be present, one way or another, because ideas and courage do not require visas to cross the borders imposed on us to divide us,” they affirmed.
“Colau is one of the founding voices of the international municipalist movement that inspires this meeting and her physical absence will be felt, but we maintain our commitment to the exchange of experiences,” the organizers said, rejecting the ban.
“Her physical absence will be felt, but we maintain our commitment to the exchange of experiences. Our collaboration with Ada and with the Sentit Comú Foundation remains just as strong and Brave Cities will take place as planned,” the League stated in a public communiqué.
For her supporters, the case exposes the double standard at the heart of the colonial relationship. The denial of entry, they insist, is not a security measure but a political sentence delivered through administrative channels.
Organizers say the work continues, and that Colau’s ideas will still shape the conversations in Caguas even in her in-person absence. The entry ban, however, ensures that a voice critical of U.S. policy will not speak from the island that Washington governs as a colony.
🚨🇪🇸 BREAKING — Ada Colau:
“If we trivialize and allow the genocide in Gaza, and apartheid and the colonial persecution of Palestine, humanity is lost.
Therefore, all humanity must not give up, resign itself, normalize or trivialize the genocide in Gaza and the persecution of… pic.twitter.com/cLg7UIx5Ss
Puerto Rico has been under U.S. control since 1898, after the Treaty of Paris, and since 1952 has held the status of a commonwealth with its own constitution, although the United States retains exclusive control over immigration, customs, defense and currency. ESTA was required because of the island’s colonial status. Puerto Rico is a U.S. territory, and ESTA applies to travelers from visa-waiver countries such as Spain who enter U.S. territory.
Rights groups have often criticized U.S. visa denials based on political views, while U.S. officials typically say such decisions follow immigration law and are not open to public discussion.
The UN World Meteorological Organization warned Wednesday that the current El Niño episode could push Pacific sea surface temperatures to 3.8 degrees Celsius above the average between November 2026 and January 2027, levels its top official called unprecedented in four decades of monitoring.
The alert came during a joint press conference in which the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Secretary-General Celeste Saulo acknowledged that the phenomenon now sits “literally outside the scales of monitoring that we have used over the past four decades.”
Her assessment placed the coming months among the most severe climate events recorded since such tracking began.
Saulo and UN humanitarian coordinator Tom Fletcher issued an urgent call for the international community to prepare in advance for the consequences they expect.
Fletcher put the human cost in stark terms. The phenomenon “will shake Latin America, eastern and southern Africa, Asia and the Pacific with extreme heat, droughts and floods,” he warned, and could push food insecurity to affect as many as 50 million people worldwide.
The warning singled out regions already struggling with fragile agricultural systems and limited infrastructure, where a single failed harvest can tip entire communities into crisis.
El Niño is set to hit fragile communities hard.@UNOCHA and @WMO are sounding the alarm, appealing for immediate assistance to support communities already affected by what has been described as the strongest El Niño on record. https://t.co/LDrygGkPPwpic.twitter.com/H1XcVA3AR7
The temperature projection of 3.8 degrees above the long-term average would place this El Niño beyond the upper bands of the monitoring framework built over forty years. Saulo noted that extreme weather events are already being recorded and will tend to multiply as the phenomenon gains intensity. She stressed, however, that the crisis “does not have to inevitably trigger a humanitarian disaster,” a message both officials repeated throughout their appearance.
To front-load the response, Fletcher announced the allocation of 50 million dollars from the UN emergency fund. The money will assist 11 of the most vulnerable countries as a priority, including Chad, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Somalia and South Sudan. The list reflects the broad geographic reach of the expected impacts, spanning the Horn of Africa, the Sahel and Central America.
Both representatives insisted that a window of opportunity remains open. Extreme conditions “do not have to translate into humanitarian emergencies or fatalities” if precautions are taken in time, they argued, framing preparedness as the difference between a difficult season and a catastrophic one.
A Narrow Action Window
Saulo and Fletcher directed their appeal beyond governments. WMO and the humanitarian office urged development banks and international financial institutions to release funds in a coordinated manner before the worst damage occurs. The underlying premise is simple, El Niño cannot be stopped, but its worst human impacts can be mitigated and prevented.
Latin America appears prominently in the forecast. Central America has already been placed on maximum alert over drought conditions linked to the so-called Super El Niño, and the new warning extends that concern across the region. Africa faces the mirror problem in several zones, with eastern and southern areas bracing for a combination of heat, drought and flood depending on local geography.
WMO’s warnings marks a departure from the cautious phrasing typical of international agencies. Describing the phenomenon as off the scale is not a rhetorical flourish but a technical judgment, one intended to shake loose the funding and coordination that slow-moving bureaucracies often withhold until emergencies are already visible. For Saulo and Fletcher, the next three months represent the period when that response must be assembled, not the period when it can still be debated.
Acting President Delcy Rodríguez announced Wednesday that Venezuela will hold its Youth Popular Consultation in February 2027, a vote she framed as a platform for young people to convert their talent, creativity and ingenuity into a driving force for national development.
Venezuelan Acting President Delcy Rodríguez delivered the announcement during a visit to the Nueve Raíces de Simón communal circuit, where she urged the country’s youth to prepare actively for what she described as a democratic appointment that will mark the direction of the coming year.
Rodríguez said the process aims to vindicate the talent, creativity and ingenuity of the new generations and to propel Venezuela toward fresh development opportunities. The call places younger Venezuelans at the center of a participatory model that has gathered strength since 2024.
The announcement lands days after the Second National Popular Consultation of 2026, held on October 18. It was the eighth nationwide vote of its kind since 2024, and officials described the turnout as massive and successful. That result has now been translated into a fresh appeal aimed specifically at young people, signaling the government’s intention to widen the base of participants in community decision-making.
🗳️🔥 ¡LA JUVENTUD SE PREPARA: NUEVA CONSULTA EN FEBRERO 2027!🇻🇪✨
Tras una participación histórica en la pasada Consulta Nacional Popular, la ruta continúa: ¡Jóvenes de toda Venezuela a prepararse desde ya! 💪🌱
— Ministerio del Poder Popular para la Juventud (@Minjuventud__ve) October 21, 2026
Text reads: “Youth is preparing: new consultation in February 2027! After a historic participation in the last National Popular Consultation, the route continues: Young people from all over Venezuela to prepare now! The commitment does not stop: it’s time to move forward, organize and execute projects that will transform our territories.”
A Record October Turnout
Millions of residents from communities across the country turned out on October 18, prompting the National Electoral Council (CNE) to extend voting by one hour.
The scale of the exercise was measured in large numbers. More than 5,418 communes and communal circuits coordinated the work of over 48,000 communal councils, and voters selected among 37,205 priority community projects eligible for public financing.
Rodríguez has championed the consultation model as a vehicle for what officials call popular power. In separate remarks, she described participation in the October exercise as extraordinary, linking the strong turnout to a broader effort to place public decision-making directly in the hands of organized communities rather than distant institutions.
A Broader Community Voice
One of the most notable features of the October consultation was the first-time inclusion of condominium boards, which put forward 428 projects. Acting President Rodríguez celebrated that milestone on social media, underscoring the importance of keeping decisions about everyday matters firmly in the hands of communities themselves.
The proposals reflected local priorities. Acting President Rodríguez had previously detailed that 14% of the projects corresponded to the water sector, followed by initiatives in road infrastructure, lighting, electricity, public services and productive activities, showing residents directing public resources toward their most pressing daily needs.
With the youth consultation now scheduled for February 2027, the Acting President called young Venezuelans to assume what she called absolute protagonism in the process. Organizers expect the new consultation to build on the machinery tested in October and to channel the energy of younger generations into decisions that will shape the country’s near-term path.
Digital models modified Flávio Bolsonaro’s event photography to artificially expand audiences and simulate support from female voters.
The Brazilian presidential election has become an arena for modern, dirty digital tactics. Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, representing the Liberal Party (PL), has centered his campaign strategy around coordinated digital reach and automated content production.
Rather than working as a traditional political campaign of physical rallies, the operation relies heavily on digital distribution infrastructure across social media platforms.
Flávio’s strategy operates through two main mechanisms. First, the campaign uses synthetic consensus tools, automated social media accounts, AI image generation, and digital avatars to simulate organic public backing.
Second, the campaign benefits from algorithmic distribution asymmetries on digital platforms, which amplify far-right material while placing system restrictions on competing political content.
Collected evidence by independent researchers, journalism networks, and electoral authorities indicates that systemic digital manipulation and platform-level infrastructure played a decisive role in shaping voter perception and electoral engagement in Brazil.
Industrial Bot Networks
A core component of Flávio Bolsonaro’s digital strategy involves the commercial purchase of automated networks designed to manufacture artificial public support.
An investigation by The Intercept Brazil revealed that Flávio Bolsonaro paid Elytron, a cybersecurity firm, to carry out data collection and voter identification to spread rumors and create fake accounts.
These automated tools operate primarily across WhatsApp, Instagram, and X, generating synchronized posts and artificial engagement to bypass standard organic distribution patterns.
This infrastructure uses astroturfing techniques to alter online public discourse. By deploying thousands of automated accounts programmed to post identical messaging scripts, the campaign artificially inflates engagement metrics, pushes specific political hashtags into regional trending lists, and floods comment sections on public news pages.
This creates a false impression of widespread popular momentum, designed to sway undecided voters through perceived consensus.
Technical evaluations submitted during electoral court proceedings reveal the scope of these automated operations. Data presented to electoral monitors shows coordinated account clusters posting at frequencies humanly impossible without software automation.
🚨 BREAKING: Flávio Bolsonaro paid R$600,000 to a company that offered AI to manipulate elections, according to Intercept Brasil. pic.twitter.com/eFcRp74vNw
Various social organizations and media outlets have denounced the deployment of AI image and video generation tools as another facet of Flávio Bolsonaro’s digital strategy.
A prominent example occurred during campaign launch events, where the campaign broadcast an AI-generated digital avatar of former president Jair Bolsonaro endorsing his son’s candidacy. This technique allowed the campaign to maintain the political presence of the former president Bolsonaro in public events despite judicial rulings restricting his direct participation in political activities.
In addition, the campaign used AI tools to manipulate visual documentation of campaign gatherings. Documented instances show event photography processed through image generation models to alter crowd compositions.
These AI modifications included scaling up crowd sizes to exaggerate physical attendance and digitally swapping male attendees with female faces. The primary objective of this demographic engineering was to simulate broader support among female voters, a demographic group where polling data consistently showed lower support for the candidate.
An investigation by a Brazilian media outlet identified more than 50 TikTok videos altered using AI, specifically on-the-street interviews in which subjects claimed they would vote for Flávio Bolsonaro. These videos garnered over 7 million views, yet in only 18% of them did the platform indicate that the individuals featured were AI-generated.
While Brazilian law prohibits the use of AI-generated videos in political campaigns, it is difficult to determine when such content is created by third parties with no direct affiliation to the campaigns.
Due to a lack of female supporters, Brazilian presidential candidate Flávio Bolsonaro has resorted to using AI to transform middle-aged men into attractive young women.
Flávio Bolsonaro’s public communications strategy relies heavily on coordinated attack campaigns directed against President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and the Workers’ Party (PT).
The Flávio campaign’s public messaging routinely utilizes sensationalist allegations and targeted attacks. Online networks affiliated with the campaign circulate manufactured claims regarding public safety, economic stability, and social values, framing the current administration in terms of moral crisis.
On Sunday the 18th, the public debate between the two candidates took place, and Flávio Bolsonaro spent most of his time attacking Lula during his turns to speak.
Throughout the debate, Flávio was sarcastic and mocking toward President Lula; he attempted to intimidate him physically, to which Lula responded by moving away, stating that he did not want to be near either Flávio or the Bolsonaro family.
Furthermore, when the discussion turned to public safety, Flávio claimed that Lula is the preferred candidate of organized crime, pointing out that Lula received a large number of votes from within the country’s prisons. Lula replied, “I want 100% of them to vote for me -even your father,” a reference to the fact that Jair Bolsonaro is currently incarcerated.
This aggressive messaging strategy directly impacts the broader political environment. By flooding public discourse with inflammatory claims, the campaign creates heightened polarization, distracts from substantive legislative evaluations, and systematically delegitimizes established democratic processes and electoral monitoring bodies.
Hundreds of Brazilians protested outside Meta’s São Paulo offices, accusing the technology giant of limiting President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s campaign reach while boosting far-right candidate Flávio Bolsonaro, just six days before the presidential runoff. The demonstration… pic.twitter.com/KRAxExFjMO
The Brazilian presidential race was shaped by asymmetries within Meta’s platforms, including Instagram, WhatsApp, and Facebook.
Filings submitted to the Superior Electoral Court (TSE, in Spanish) by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s legal team documented clear disparities in how content from both campaigns was handled by the different platforms.
A primary issue involved Meta’s generative AI features. When users requested campaign materials incorporating Lula’s official ballot number, 13, the system repeatedly rejected the prompts, citing political content restrictions. Conversely, identical requests containing Flávio Bolsonaro’s candidate number, 22, were routinely processed, generating promotional material for the far-right campaign.
In other instances, the AI tool inserted Bolsonaro’s electoral number into completely unrelated image requests. Following formal complaints, the Superior Electoral Court ordered Meta to ensure equal treatment. Meta attributed these outcomes to technical errors and implemented broad restrictions on political image generation.
Internal Meta communications revealed that technical errors caused Lula’s official Instagram profile to be excluded from platform search results and recommendation engines, while Flávio Bolsonaro’s profile remained fully discoverable and actively recommended to users. Furthermore, internal technical escalations confirmed that temporary account restrictions had hindered the reach of Lula’s messaging assets.
WHO'S THE REAL THIEF? LULA CHALLENGES BOLSONARO TO SHOW RECORDS
Ahead of Brazil’s presidential election, Brazilian President Lula da Silva publicly challenged rival Flávio Bolsonaro to open his bank accounts, release his phone records, and let the Brazilian people decide who… pic.twitter.com/U6Ge0yOV6A
The execution of Flávio Bolsonaro’s digital presidential campaign illustrates the evolving mechanics of far-right electoral operations.
By combining commercial bot procurement, generative AI deepfakes, coordinated public attacks, and platform-level algorithmic advantages, the campaign constructed a heavily synthetic media environment designed to influence voter perception.
These developments underscore the limitations of existing legal and regulatory frameworks in addressing digital campaign manipulation. While judicial interventions by the Superior Electoral Court forced technical corrections, reactive oversight remains insufficient to counteract real-time automated suppression and algorithmic imbalance.
Protecting democratic processes requires structural regulatory reform, including mandatory algorithmic transparency, strict auditing of generative AI systems, and clear accountability standards for global technology corporations operating within national borders.
Exposing the mechanics of digital manipulation through independent research and data-driven journalism remains essential to safeguarding electoral integrity against automated distortion and platform bias.
Sources: Brasil de Fato – Agência Brasil – Gov.br – O Globo – Folha de S.Paulo – O Estado de S.Paulo – El País – CNN Brasil – EFE – Instituto Tricontinental – La Base América Latina – Diario Red – The Intercept – El Salto
More than 10 million U.S. citizens have already cast ballots for the U.S. midterm elections, and Democrats account for over half of that early turnout as the November 3 vote approaches.
General early voting began on Monday, October 19, led by Texas, Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut and South Carolina. Hawaii, Louisiana, Utah, Wisconsin, Florida and Missouri have since joined.
Voters will decide seats in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, governorships, state legislatures and local measures on November 3.
Democratic voters have shown up in force across several districts, a pattern party strategists read as an early effort to blunt the conservative agenda in Congress. That mobilization carries weight because the races will decide control of the Senate, the House of Representatives, several governorships and state legislatures, along with local ballot measures.
The opening surge unfolded amid deep polarization over the federal administration’s record. Turnout in the early states has outpaced expectations even as the national political climate remains volatile.
🎉 Double digits! We've just passed 10 MILLION early votes cast nationally in the 2026 midterms! 🗳️
In Alaska, polls will stay open for 15 days before Election Day. In Arkansas, the Secretary of State estimates early participation of half a million people. In counties such as Saline and Pulaski, early reports show a divided electorate: conservative voters back Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Senator Tom Cotton, who are noted for their alignment with President Donald Trump’s administration.
In Colorado, in-person voting centers opened on October 19 and four million ballots were mailed out. Preliminary records show that 13% of Democrats have returned their ballots, compared with 10% of Republicans and 7.5% of unaffiliated voters. Colorado is electing all of its main executive and legislative offices. Inflation, public safety, defense of social benefits and control of presidential power dominate the priorities mentioned by community organizations and independent voters in Arkansas and Colorado.
Florida prepares to open its mandatory in-person period on October 24, where Hispanic voters make up roughly 29% of the population and carry decisive weight.
Early voting for the midterm elections begins this week in these states:
— Alaska — Arkansas — Colorado — Connecticut — South Carolina — Texas — Hawaii — Louisiana — Missouri — Utah — Wisconsin — West Virginia — Delaware — Maryland — Florida — Michigan — New Jersey — New York pic.twitter.com/YPYDIWpkNP
Elections officials warned that, because of the complexity of the voting system, close races could be resolved only on November 18, when the count of ranked choices ends.
The early surge arrives as surveys show some of the lowest approval numbers of Trump’s current administration. The President’s backers have framed the midterms as a referendum on his governing record, while Democrats describe the contest as a check on executive power.
The record pace of early ballots has already surpassed previous benchmarks, with Texas posting one of the strongest showings. As more states open their voting windows in the coming days, the national count is expected to climb sharply before November 3, when the full scope of the midterm verdict takes shape.
#FromTheSouth News Bits | In the United States, analysts assert that the Trump administration is seeking to destabilize democratic-led states by instilling fear through immigration agents known as ICE, in an effort to manipulate the midterm elections and win them. pic.twitter.com/e5Dal77aj0
Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva presented a constitutional amendment on Wednesday that would reserve budget funds for free public transport on weekends and holidays, tying the move to workers’ newly expanded right to rest.
The initiative would redirect 26.8% of parliamentary budget amendments to fund the program, which the government says would strengthen working-class access to leisure and urban mobility.
It envisions reallocating 11.2 billion reais (more than 2.2 billion dollars) from the budget controlled by Congress, whose concentration of resources has historically limited the federal government’s ability to carry out social policies. The proposal still needs to pass Congress.
The Brazilian government argues that this concentration of resources in parliamentary hands has historically limited the federal government’s capacity to carry out social programs. Reassigning the money, officials contend, restores room for initiatives aimed at urban mobility and access to leisure for the working class.
PESSOAL URGENTE 🚨
Lula anuncia tarifa zero para ônibus aos fins de semana em todo o país. PEC foi enviada ao Congresso e prevê que parte do orçamento das emendas parlamentares financie a medida. #FandomsComLulapic.twitter.com/cYNB8bGf9q
During the same ceremony at Planalto Palace Lula signed a separate law forgiving 16 billion reais (about $3.1 billion) in tax debts accumulated by individual microentrepreneurs, a category that covers millions of small producers and self-employed workers.
Administration officials portrayed the debt pardon as a lifeline for families whose tax obligations had outpaced their ability to pay. The two measures, they said, respond to the same pressure weighing on popular households across Brazil.
The Brazilian President described the weekend transport plan as a pilot program. Its purpose is to measure the social and operational impact of the zero fare model before any decision to extend it nationwide.
Lula’s administration said the project complements the recent reduction of the working week, helping workers make effective use of their right to rest. Days before Wednesday’s event, Lula attended the Senate promulgation of a separate constitutional amendment that abolishes the six-days-on, one-day-off schedule. The change secures two paid days of rest each week, preferably Saturday and Sunday, and shortens the maximum work week without cutting pay.
🚍 MAIS TEMPO PARA VIVER!
Hoje enviamos ao Congresso a PEC da Tarifa Zero, que propõe transporte público gratuito aos fins de semana e feriados em todo o Brasil e em cidades que possuem transporte público.
Despite criticism from far-right sectors backing Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, the executive said it will deepen its commitment to restoring rights and defending popular gains. The announcements come days before the October 25 presidential runoff in which Lula faces Bolsonaro.
The weekend fare initiative arrives as Lula’s administration pushes a broader agenda of recovering social and labor protections. The Brazilian President has linked the transit measure and the shorter work week as parts of a single effort to lift the weight of daily costs from working families.
The accumulated losses from more than six decades of the blockade exceed US$150 billion.
On Wednesday, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez denounced the United States for exerting diplomatic pressure on numerous countries to change their stance ahead of the upcoming United Nations General Assembly vote on the economic blockade imposed on the island.
According to the Cuban minister, Washington’s actions are intensifying in the lead-up to the debate scheduled for October 27 and 28, when UN member states will again vote on the draft resolution calling for an end to these sanctions.
Rodriguez stated that the current discussion is taking place against a backdrop of a tightening blockade and noted that, for the first time, the General Assembly will also address the effects of the energy blockade imposed on Cuba.
The foreign minister maintained that the U.S. measures are affecting Cuban foreign trade and are part of a strategy designed to create economic and social hardship in order to generate instability in the country.
During a public appearance, the Cuban foreign minister asserted that he possesses documents evidencing efforts to influence foreign governments to change their vote on the resolution presented by Cuba.
As the cruelty of collective punishment continues, Cubans are standing together against the shortages caused by the U.S. blockade.
Watch how hundreds of community groups are helping Cubans get the medicine they need 👇 pic.twitter.com/0NdgM0mM29
According to Rodriguez, these documents include messages that deem the blockade legitimate. The minister also denounced threats of sanctions against sovereign countries, including trade measures, restrictions against officials, and other forms of political and economic pressure.
He also rejected claims that, he said, attempt to link Cuba to the conflict in Ukraine, calling these accusations “false” and part of a “smear campaign” against the Caribbean nation.
Rodriguez asserted that these actions reflect the international isolation of U.S. policy toward Cuba and recalled that, according to calculations presented by Havana to the United Nations, the accumulated losses from more than six decades of the blockade exceed US$150 billion.
#FromTheSouth News Bits | In Cuba, over a million students return to school, marking an achievement for the nation's education system amid ongoing United States aggression. pic.twitter.com/oMCCt8jRPD
The decision preserves a lower court ruling blocking a federal prison policy that would end hormone therapy.
On Wednesday, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected an emergency request from President Donald Trump’s administration, preventing the implementation of a policy seeking to deny gender-affirming treatment to hundreds of transgender inmates in federal prisons.
The decision leaves in place a lower court ruling blocking the Federal Bureau of Prisons from implementing a directive that would have ended hormone therapy and other types of medical care for transgender people in these correctional facilities.
“The application for a stay presented to the chief justice and by him referred to the Court is denied,” the brief court order states. It adds only that conservative Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito would have supported the Trump administration’s request.
During the summer, a federal judge in the District of Columbia ruled against the Republican administration’s policy, which has supported measures to restrict the rights of the LGBTQ community as part of the culture war promoted by Trump.
All major medical organizations in the US support gender-affirming care. The Trump administration opposes it.https://t.co/my0B4j1dXG
An appeals court rejected the federal government’s request to suspend the block, an injunction that now remains in place following the Supreme Court’s decision. Meanwhile, litigation over the directive continues.
The “Trump v. Kingdom” case represents the interests of about 1,000 inmates diagnosed with gender dysphoria who are represented by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which estimates that nearly 800 of them have been prescribed hormone therapy.
More than 2,000 inmates in U.S. federal prisons identify as transgender, according to ACLU estimates. The Federal Bureau of Prisons stopped publishing data on transgender individuals after Trump returned to power in 2025 and now records only men and women in the prison system.
In June, the conservative majority (6-3) on the U.S. Supreme Court sided with Trump and upheld state laws prohibiting transgender athletes from competing on girls’ and women’s teams in school and college sports, concluding that the laws do not violate the Constitution.
They warn of disproportionate restrictions on campaign accounts and urge Meta to ensure fair treatment of candidates.
On Wednesday, United Nations human rights experts expressed concern about restrictions on political freedom of expression occurring in Brazil as a result of the way the technology company Meta is handling its social media platforms during Brazil’s presidential elections.
“Reports of restrictions on legitimate political expression on Meta platforms during Brazil’s elections raise concerns for freedom of expression, association, political participation and equal treatment of political viewpoints, UN experts said.
“Online platforms are key actors in democratic debate. Preventing people from speaking or reaching audiences without explanation affects who is heard,” they added.
This assessment is based on findings by international election observers who have reported incidents of political discrimination through electronic media.
🇧🇷 | META ATACA DE NUEVO A LULA
Empleados de Meta admitieron afecciones voluntarias a las cuentas de Lula, mientras favorecían la visibilidad de Flavio Bolsonaro.
The text reads, “META TARGETS LULA AGAIN. Meta employees admitted to intentionally interfering with Lula’s accounts, while boosting the visibility of Flavio Bolsonaro.”
Among those incidents, they highlighted the temporary interruptions of the campaign account of President Lula da Silva, the candidate of the Workers’ Party who is competing against U.S.-backed far-right Senator Flavio Bolsonaro in the runoff scheduled for Sunday, Oct. 25.
Observers have also recorded differences in audience engagement, user feeds, view counts and reach; restrictions on that campaign’s Instagram posts; and differences between the main political parties in AI image generation, WhatsApp channel search results, candidates’ stories and the distribution of political content potentially benefiting Bolsonaro’s campaign.
“Monitoring reports show thousands of accounts and posts have faced suspensions, reduced visibility and sharing limits, including journalists, human rights defenders, civil society actors and content creators,” the UN experts said.
“Information, including from Meta employees, suggests that accounts linked to one side of the presidential race were disproportionately curtailed.”
3 days after Meta was ordered to stop manipulating algorithms to favor Flavio Bolsonaro in the presidential election, two orgs have submitted evidence to Brazil's Superior Electoral Court that the corporation is still violating national election laws. https://t.co/GzJIA8gSjL
Last week, due to this discriminatory treatment, the Brazilian Superior Electoral Court ordered Meta to apply the same rules to both candidates until the runoff, prohibiting unequal restrictions on campaign reach, recommendations, and search results.
“Losing reach can mean losing a voice in public debate and the ability to mobilise communities. Algorithms, AI systems and content-moderation decisions must not become invisible arbiters of political discussion. Where political expression appears disproportionately restricted, platforms must explain why, address unequal impacts and ensure effective remedies,” the UN experts warned.
“The responsibility to respect human rights requires technology companies to identify, prevent and address adverse impacts, in line with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, including in platform governance and content moderation,” they added.
A Meta AI chatbot tells grad student Laura Morgado why Meta is backing Bolsonaro. “Trump & the Bolsonaros are the global political shield for big tech companies against the advance of European regulation & the Latin American left." Another technical glitch?https://t.co/NyVrTkP07d
“During elections, delayed remedies may have irreversible consequences. Freedom of expression and information integrity must therefore go hand in hand. Measures against disinformation must not arbitrarily restrict legitimate political expression,” the UN experts stressed, and urged Meta to assess whether its moderation, recommendation, and AI systems disproportionately restricted one side of Brazil’s electoral debate.
“Digital platforms must not become unaccountable gatekeepers of political debate, nor should their systems be susceptible to undue influence by political actors. Democracy and free and fair elections depend on independent and consistent platforms and an open, pluralistic environment where people can access information, scrutinise those seeking power, exchange views and organise without arbitrary interference,” the experts said.
The statement was signed by figures including Leopoldo Maldonado, Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression; Margaret Satterthwaite, Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers; and Gina Romero, Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association.
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