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Good practice Imported

Brazil's TSE AI-Disclosure Rule for the 2024 Municipal Elections — A Cautionary Compliance Gap

Brazil · Brasília · See the Brazil profile

For Brazil's October 2024 municipal elections (150 million voters), the TSE required campaigns to disclose AI-manipulated content and banned harmful deepfakes; independent monitors still confirmed 78 synthetic-media cases, with only 49 referred for investigation.

~150 million
Eligible voters in the 2024 municipal elections
5,568
Municipalities covered
78
Confirmed AI-manipulated content cases (1 May-27 Oct 2024)
48 videos, 17 audio, 6 images
Confirmed cases by format (1 May-27 Oct 2024)
65 of 78
Cases targeting mayoral races
25
Cases spread via WhatsApp
13
Cases spread via Instagram
67
Cities where cases occurred
49 of 78
Cases referred for investigation/legal action
Brazil's TSE AI-Disclosure Rule for the 2024 Municipal Elections — A Cautionary Compliance Gap

Details

Promoter
Tribunal Superior Eleitoral (TSE)
Period
Feb–Oct 2024
Keywords
elections, digital governance, AI regulation

Context

In February 2024, Brazil's Superior Electoral Court (TSE) approved Resolution 23.732/2024 governing AI use in campaigns ahead of the October 2024 municipal elections, involving roughly 150 million voters across 5,568 municipalities.

Objectives

Require campaigns to disclose when AI tools are used to edit images or audio or generate content, name the specific tool, and ban deepfakes intended to harm or unduly favour a candidate.

Activities

Independent monitoring by the Atlantic Council's DFRLab tracked the campaign period from 1 May to 27 October 2024.

Results

DFRLab confirmed 78 cases of AI-manipulated content tied to local candidates (48 videos, 17 audio clips, 6 images), spread mainly via WhatsApp (25 cases) and Instagram (13), across 67 cities; 65 of the 78 cases targeted mayoral races, and 49 were reported to Brazilian authorities for investigation or legal action.

Conclusions

Researchers at Data Privacy Brasil concluded that despite the TSE's efforts, candidates continued to use AI without notifying the electorate - the disclosure requirement was not consistently followed, even though overall AI use was less pervasive than initially feared.

Implementation
Indicative cost
Medium (€50k–€500k)
Time to results
Short (< 1 year)
Staffing & skills
TSE resolution/enforcement staff, Independent monitors (Atlantic Council DFRLab, Data Privacy Brasil)

Conditions for success

  • A constitutional electoral court with formal rule-making and enforcement powers, including registration-revocation penalties
  • Independent, systematic third-party monitoring to check real-world compliance

Common failure modes

  • Disclosure requirement was not consistently followed - candidates used AI without notifying the electorate despite the rule
  • Only 49 of 78 confirmed cases were referred for investigation or legal action

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Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

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