Brazil's 2026 election becomes the first real stress test for its AI regulation

Brazil's October 2026 election will be the first in which generative AI tools are used on a large scale at low cost by ordinary people for political communication. A Tech Policy Press report cites the social media account Dona Maria as an example: a 37-year-old Uber driver used Google Gemini and Flow to generate this nonexistent elderly Black woman, charging $4 per video, with the account estimated to have reached 100 million people and at least 12 videos exceeding 1 million views. The AI regulatory framework passed by the Brazilian Senate at the end of 2024 still awaits review by the Chamber of Deputies. The Superior Electoral Court has had resolutions banning chatbots and deepfakes since 2024, but has not yet clarified the definition of deepfake—that is, whether any realistic AI-generated content counts, or whether it must be intended to mislead voters. Three parties in Lula's coalition have filed a lawsuit to ban the account, with the case being heard by Judge Estela Aranha. Research shows that false content in Brazil grew threefold from 2024 to 2025, and in 2025 most false content carried an ideological slant.