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Brazil’s top court on Friday ordered a nationwide suspension of Elon Musk’s X social network after the company pledged to defy previous court orders on content control and the appointment of a legal representative in the country.
Alexandre de Moraes, the court’s top judge, also ordered daily fines for people or businesses in Brazil who use virtual private networks (VPNs) or other methods to access X while the site is banned in the country. G1 Globo was mentioned.
The court issued a statement via its Brazilian government website on Friday, saying it had ordered “the immediate and complete suspension of X, formerly Twitter, throughout the national territory until the Court’s judicial decisions are complied with and the fines imposed are paid.” The announcement also states that the order will remain in effect “until a representative of the company is appointed in the country.”
Hours later, the court issued a second order suspending some of the measures in his first 51-page order against X. Initially, de Moraes gave companies like Apple and Google 5 days to stop offering X downloads in their app stores and to stop having VPN apps for access to X. The second decree eliminated this deadline and postponed the implementation of these measures until further notice, giving X time to pay fines and appoint a legal representative.
Brazil’s Supreme Court announced Wednesday that Musk and X had 24 hours to either appoint a legal representative for their operations there or face a nationwide “suspension of activities.” The deadline expired on Thursday afternoon.
X’s global government affairs unit he said in a statement late Thursday that he expected de Moraes to be shut down “soon” because the company “would not comply” with his orders.
Brazil, a major US non-NATO ally, is now preparing for municipal elections in October. Under Brazilian law, social media companies operating in the country must hire someone to handle government takedown notices, including those related to political disinformation and incitement to violence.
X has no such representative in Brazil and said earlier this month that it would remove all of its employees from the country rather than face possible arrest for failing to comply with court orders.
X’s suspension in Brazil could cause business problems for Musk’s already struggling company. Brazil has a population of over 171 million active social media users, according to the market research of Oosga.
Musk led the $44 billion acquisition of Twitter in late 2022. He implemented sweeping changes and reinstated previously banned and suspended accounts, prompting many large advertisers to exit or cut spending on ad campaigns.
THE The World Bank stopped paying for campaigns on X after a CBS News investigation found that ads from the organization were appearing under a racist post from an X account that regularly uploaded “pro-Nazi and white nationalist content.”
Musk lashed out at De Moraes in a series of posts after a court froze the finances of Starlink, the satellite Internet service provided by Musk’s SpaceX, in Brazil. Starlink has been advertised on X under Musk’s management, and Musk has encouraged people in Brazil to use Starlink to access the social media platform.
The De Moraes court had fined X for alleged violations of Brazilian law and froze Starlink’s finances in the country to ensure those fines were paid.
De Moraes’ critics see his court orders against X as an overreach. Its court has a history of suspending social networking apps until they comply with the country’s regulations. Meta-owned Whatsapp and Telegram have been suspended in Brazil but restored, for example.
On Friday, Musk compared De Moraes to a movie villain Voldemort and shared a post describing “the evil tyranny of Moraes”.
Representatives for X and the US embassy in Brazil were not immediately available for comment.
Musk has repeatedly denounced De Moraes’ court orders as censorship. In his statement on Thursday, X said the de Moraes court had taken “illegal actions” against the company.
On Friday after news of the suspension, Musk told X, “The oppressive regime in Brazil is so afraid of the world knowing the truth that they will bankrupt anyone who tries.”
