The Supreme Court of Brazil has banned the social network X/Twitter due to its moderation policies. The largest country in South America is home to 227 million people.
The ban was prompted by the failure to appoint a new company representative in Brazil. The legal dispute that led to the revocation of the previous representative arose from the company's reactivation of X/Twitter accounts that the authorities accuse of spreading misinformation.
Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered the National Telecommunications Agency (Anatel) to restrict access to X for 24 hours and gave Apple and Google five days to remove X from their app stores. The country is also imposing daily fines of 50,000 reais ($8,900) for using X via VPN.
Earlier this month, Musk shut down X's offices in Brazil following threats of arrest against the company's representative who refused to comply with the court's ruling to block users. On Wednesday, August 29, the Supreme Court of Brazil informed X that if the company did not appoint a new legal representative within 24 hours, the platform would be banned. The next day, the threat was realized. Elon Musk expressed his thoughts on Brazil's judicial system and the country's presidential elections in his typical manner:
There is growing evidence that fake judge @Alexandre engaged in serious, repeated & deliberate election interference in Brazil's last presidential election.
Under Brazilian law, that would mean up to 20 years in prison.
And, I'm sorry to say that it appears that some former…
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 1, 2024
“There is growing evidence that fake judge @Alexandre was involved in serious, repeated, and intentional election interference during Brazil's last presidential election. Under Brazilian law, this would mean up to 20 years in prison. I regret to say that it seems some former Twitter employees were complicit and helped him to do this. Anyone with examples or evidence of this, please respond to this post.”
Brazilian justice launched an investigation against X in April after Musk claimed he had reactivated accounts that X was ordered to block for spreading misinformation. Many accounts that de Moraes ordered X to block are associated with supporters of former President Jair Messias Bolsonaro (who held right-leaning views, unlike the current president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva).
“We absolutely do not insist that other countries have the same freedom of speech laws as the United States. The fundamental issue at stake here is that Judge de Moraes is asking us to violate Brazil's own laws. We simply will not do that,” as stated in X's official statement. The company claims it will release all documents that prove this.
Brazil requires major social platforms to have a legal representative in the country. Previously, other social networks, including Telegram and WhatsApp, have also faced temporary bans in Brazil.
Starlink, part of Elon Musk's SpaceX, reported that Judge de Moraes also issued an order to freeze the company's accounts. “This order is based on an unfounded determination that Starlink should be held responsible for fines imposed — unconstitutionally — against X,” Starlink stated.
Comments (0)
There are no comments for now