After months of confrontations over alleged misinformation, Brazil's Supreme Court has officially banned Elon Musk's social media platform, making it inaccessible from the web as well as its mobile app after the company refused to comply with a judge's order and missed a deadline imposed by the apex court to name a legal representative in Brazil. This dramatic development marks a severe escalation in the feud between Musk and Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes over free speech and far-right accounts.
Brazil's telecommunication regulator Anatel on Friday said it was suspending access to X in the country to comply with the judge's order, and Three of the country's top telecommunications carriers said they would begin blocking access from Saturday midnight. This could cause the widely-used platform to lose one of its largest and most coveted markets, at a time when Musk has struggled with advertising revenue for the platform.
In his ruling on Friday, Moraes ordered that X, formerly Twitter, be suspended in Brazil until it complied with all related court orders, including the payment of more than $3 million in fines, as well as the designation of a local representative, as required by Brazilian law. De Moraes had warned Musk on Wednesday of the suspension if he failed to name a representative in the country.
"They’re shutting down the #1 source of truth in Brazil," said Musk after the ruling, while warning of similar measures in the United States if the Democrats win in the upcoming elections. Musk has staunchly supported former President Donald Trump for the November elections.
What is the feud between Musk and Brazilian judge?
Justice Moraes and Musk have been in a public feud for months after X failed to comply with legal orders to block certain accounts accused of spreading 'fake news' and hate messages. X claimed Moraes threatened to arrest one of the company's legal representatives in Brazil if it did not comply with his orders. In response, Musk's platform shut all of its Brazil offices due to what it called "censorship" by the judge.
Some of the accounts shut down by X previously on Brazilian orders include lawmakers affiliated with former President Jair Bolsonaro's right-wing party and activists accused of undermining Brazilian democracy. X's lawyers in April sent a document to the Supreme Court in April, saying that since 2019 it had suspended or blocked 226 users.
Moraes in April included Musk in an investigation over the dissemination of fake news and opened a separate probe into the executive for alleged obstruction. Musk, who calls himself a "free speech absolutist" has repeatedly claimed such actions are imposing censorship, an argument echoed by the right-wing in Brazil. The feud has led to the freezing of the bank accounts of Musk's satellite internet provider Starlink in Brazil.
Musk has repeatedly insulted the justice on the social media, calling him names such as "dictator", "fraud" and "Voldemort" - the latter being in mocking reference to the resemblance of Moraes with the Harry Potter character. "Dictator de Voldemort is absolutely trying to destroy democracy in Brazil," he said on Friday.
What did Moraes say on banning X?
In his ruling on Friday, the Supreme Court judge ordered the telecom regulator to shut down X until it complies with his orders, and also set a daily fine of 50,000 reais ($8,900) for people using VPNs to access it. Later, he backtracked on his initial decision to establish a 5-day deadline for internet service providers themselves — and not just the telecommunications regulator — to block access to X, as well as his directive for app stores to remove VPNs.
“Elon Musk showed his total disrespect for Brazilian sovereignty and, in particular, for the judiciary, setting himself up as a true supranational entity and immune to the laws of each country,” de Moraes wrote in his decision on Friday. He also said X's conduct “clearly intends to continue to encourage posts with extremism, hate speech and anti-democratic discourse, and to try to withdraw them from jurisdictional control.”
Moraes said his decision was based on Brazilian law requiring internet services companies to have representation in the country who are notified of when there are relevant court decisions and take requisite action. He has been backed by a majority of the 11-member court, including Chief Justice Roberto Barroso.
Response to Brazil's decision
Linda Yaccarino, the CEO of the X platform, called it a "sad day" for users in the world, including Brazil. "I wish it did not have to come to this – it breaks my heart... I hope for a day when the Brazilian government will live up to the Constitution that the Brazilian people ratified. But until there is change in Brazil, X will be shut down," she added in her post.
X's Global Government Affairs had earlier anticipated that its services would be shut down in Brazil - simply because it refused to comply with Moraes' "illegal orders to censor his political opponents". The company claimed the judge threatened its Brazilian legal representative with imprisonment when it attempted to defend itself in court.
Musk, who lambasted Moraes for suspending the platform, said he would publish a long list of the judge's crimes along with the Brazilian laws he had broken. "Obviously, he does not need to abide by US law, but he does need to abide by his own country’s laws. He is a dictator and a fraud, not a justice," he said.
Going a step further, Musk also claimed that a similar situation would happen in the United States if Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate Tim Walz emerged victorious in the upcoming elections. "The attacks this year on free speech are unprecedented in the 21st century. It will happen in America too if Kamala/Walz gain power," he said.
What will happen now?
X is widely used in Brazil and is an important means of communication, especially for politicians as a means to put out their views and attack their rivals. The suspension of X services comes at a momentous occasion as Brazil is preparing to enter the campaign phase for local municipal elections in October that will decide the mayors of 5,568 towns and cities.
However, things are problematic for X as it has struggled with the loss of advisers since Musk purchased Twitter in 2022. The platform was mired in controversy after it was accused of not doing enough to curb anti-semitic content. This is not the first social media platform to be banned - as Brazil had shut down WhatsApp, Telegram and others for failing to comply with norms.
X and its former incarnation, Twitter, have been banned in several countries — mostly authoritarian regimes such as Russia, China, Iran, Myanmar, North Korea, Venezuela and Turkmenistan. Other countries like Pakistan have temporarily suspended services, arguing that it did so to quell unrest and misinformation. A search Friday on X showed hundreds of Brazilian users inquiring about VPNs.
(with inputs from agencies)
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