Tarcísio's Team Secures Court Orders to Remove Critical Ads Ahead of Campaign

With the official election campaign just a month away, Tarcísio de Freitas's team has successfully obtained 21 preliminary court rulings to remove online advertisements critical of the governor. These boosted publications, which reached a wider audience through paid promotion, targeted Tarcísio. Among those identified as paying for the ads were three state deputies allied with his opponent, Fernando Haddad (PT): Antonio Donato and Emídio de Souza, and federal deputy Jilmar Tatto. Several other profiles, including "Contra a Maré," "A Engrenagem," and "Lente de Aumento," whose owners remain unidentified, have also had their content removed. The legal actions were initiated by the São Paulo Republicanos party, seeking not only the removal of content but also the suspension of boosted posts. The Regional Electoral Court of São Paulo (TRE-SP) has received 29 such actions from the party. In at least two cases, the court ordered Meta to disclose the IP addresses used to request the boosting of content, which could help identify the responsible parties. Data from Meta's Ad Library shows individual boosted posts costing up to R$ 8,000. The Folha newspaper attempted to contact the profiles via phone numbers listed on their websites but received no response. Nineteen of the 21 preliminary rulings, overseen by six different judges, were accessed by the newspaper. The decisions were based on violations of Article 57-C of the Electoral Code, which prohibits boosting negative propaganda against candidates, and also recognized as premature campaigning. The full processes are not publicly available from TRE-SP. While Tarcísio's campaign team confirmed filing the actions, they referred to the collection of publications as Haddad's "hate cabinet," drawing a parallel to Jair Bolsonaro's alleged team responsible for spreading disinformation. Haddad's campaign team declined to comment, and the PT party is not a direct party to the actions. However, Haddad's aides pushed back against suspicions of coordinated action, associating the "hate cabinet" term with the far-right and highlighting alleged falsehoods circulating online against the PT.