Brazil’s Supreme Court justice suspended social media platform X, formerly Twitter, after Elon Musk refused to comply with demands to name a legal representative in the country.
The ruling orders that X will be suspended until it follows the court’s orders. Justice Alexandre de Moraes also set a daily fine of 50,000 reais for using VPNs to access the platform. X CEO Linda Yaccarino lamented, terming it “a sad day for X users worldwide, especially those in Brazil.” She maintained that Brazil doesn’t fulfill its constitutional obligation to censor prohibition.
The company argued that it is being purposely targeted for refusing to censor political opponents, which de Moraes calls “illegal orders.” X revealed that while defending, the judge threatened to imprison the Brazilian legal representative and freeze her bank accounts.
Historical tensions between X and Brazilian authorities
The dispute between X and Brazilian authorities stems from the platform’s refusal to block users accused of undermining Brazilian democracy. According to the information, since 2019, the platform has suspended or blocked 226 users based on the Brazilian judiciary’s orders. Lawmakers affiliated with the right-wing party of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro were among them.
De Moraes used Musk’s statements to demonstrate that X has “clearly” given evidence of its intention to support posts that promote extremism, hate speech, and anti-democratic discourse. The billionaire Musk, who loves to portray himself as a free speech absolutist, has been very critical of de Moraes and has been trying to bring the film down by censorship instead.
People often call him a dictator and tyrant when they name him the justice on X. The supporters of de Moraes claim that the intervention of the authorities is legitimate and a necessary step to curb excessive liberty. However, Brazil’s loss is a big blow for X, which is an important market for the company. Around 40 million Brazilians, nearly one-fifth of the country’s total population, are using X at least once a month.
