Brazil says Twitter lawyers paid fine to 'wrong bank' - social network still blocked in country

The Brazilian Supreme Court has stated that Twitter (X) cannot resume operations in the country because the fine imposed on the social media platform was paid to the wrong bank.

It’s worth noting that Twitter's operations in Brazil (as well as Starlink later on) were suspended in August due to non-compliance with moderation requirements concerning hostile comments and the lack of a legal representative in the country. The Supreme Court also gave Apple and Google five days to remove the app from their stores and imposed fines of 50,000 reais ($8,900) for using the social network via VPN.

Twitter owner Elon Musk immediately labeled the judge as fake and closed all offices in the country. However, after some time, it seems he decided to make concessions and comply with the court's conditions: some accounts were suspended, and lawyers attempted to pay the imposed fine of $5 million, but, as reported by Reuters, they made a mistake regarding the bank's name.

The court has now instructed Twitter to rectify the error, after which company representatives must meet with the local attorney general. There has been no timeline provided yet for the resumption of the social network's operations.

To recall, Elon Musk purchased Twitter in 2022 for an astounding $44 billion, initiating a saga to transform the social network into a new platform with a “freedom of speech” ethos called X. However, not all efforts to relaunch Twitter have been successful: some new features faced bugs, and the launch of the new subscription led to an influx of fakes and trolls on the platform. Moreover, Musk's often controversial statements have not pleased many advertisers—last year, both Apple and Disney left Twitter (Musk later accused them of intentional boycotting and told them to "go to hell").

All these events have also impacted the company's earnings and, specifically, its valuation—considering the initial estimate of $44 billion that Musk paid for the acquisition, it has now plummeted by a staggering 79% (now reaching $9.4 billion), according to recent data from Fidelity (the company that assisted Elon with the acquisition).