TSE Requires Electoral Compliance Plan from Digital Platforms
July 31, 2026
This Thursday, July 30, Brazil’s Superior Electoral Court (TSE – Tribunal Superior Eleitoral) issued Ordinance #463/2026, establishing that digital platforms must submit their compliance plans for the Brazilian 2026 elections until August 16, 2026.
The Ordinance regulates Article 125-B of TSE’s Rule #23,610/2019 and sets forth the procedures for the submission, review, and monitoring of these plans, which must detail the measures adopted by providers to prevent and mitigate risks to the integrity of the electoral process, as well as ensure compliance with the obligations established under the electoral regulations.
To this end, providers must submit detailed information on their compliance measures, including application criteria, implementation mechanisms, monitoring indicators, expected outcomes, and oversight procedures.
Compliance plans must be submitted by providers that:
• allow the publication, sharing, distribution, recommendation, indexing, boosting, monetization, or promotion of third-party political-electoral content;
• offer instant messaging services with public broadcasting functionalities, such as channels, public communities, or broadcast lists with unrestricted reach; or
• provide generative artificial intelligence tools capable of creating synthetic content at users’ request.
As a general rule, this obligation applies to companies that have, individually or together with other services belonging to the same economic group, more than 5 million monthly active users in Brazil. However, the TSE may require smaller providers to submit a simplified plan if it determines that their functionalities, reach, or relevance
to the circulation of political-electoral content may significantly impact the integrity of the electoral process.
In addition, providers must update the plan whenever there is a material change in risk or functionality affecting the measures described therein, and must communicate such change to the TSE within 48 hours.
Depending on the functionalities offered by the provider, the plan may include measures related to:
• compliance with orders issued by the Electoral Justice, including content removal, account suspension, and data disclosure;
• proactive moderation of unlawful, demonstrably false, or seriously misleading content;
• identification and disruption of coordinated inauthentic behavior;
• governance measures and safeguards applicable to generative artificial intelligence systems;
• compliance with restrictions applicable during electoral blackout periods;
• transparency and integrity of paid political advertising, including advertiser identification and ad traceability;
• assessment, monitoring, and mitigation of risks to the integrity of the electoral process;
• protection of personal data used for electoral advertising purposes; and
• reporting, appeal, and communication channels for users, candidates, and electoral authorities.
In addition to submitting the plan, providers must notify the TSE of any extraordinary risk to the integrity of the electoral process that, due to its scale, novelty, or potential harm, requires an immediate response, within three days of becoming aware of it.
Following the elections, by December 19, 2026, providers must submit a consolidated report on the implementation of their compliance plan, including: (i) the results achieved; (ii) data on proactive moderation measures; (iii) information on the activities of fact-checking organizations; (iv) measures adopted against coordinated networks; (v) identified failures; (vi) security incidents; and (vii) the corresponding corrective measures.
Failure to submit the plan may result in: (i) public disclosure of the omission on the TSE website; (ii) placement of the provider under a direct regulatory supervision regime; and (iii) the inability to obtain or maintain the accreditation and registration required to provide electoral advertising boosting services before the Electoral Justice.
Our team closely monitors regulatory developments related to digital regulation in Brazil and is available to assist in assessing the applicability of TSE’s Ordinance #463/2026, preparing and reviewing compliance plans, evaluating regulatory risks, and developing strategies to comply with the new requirements imposed by the TSE. For further
information, please contact us at info@lickslegal.com.
