elon musk brazil

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X reinstated in Brazil after Musk pays fines, agrees to follow local laws

brazil x, elon musk brazil, Policy / /

Brazil’s Supreme Court is allowing Elon Musk’s X to resume operations, apparently ending a months-long battle after the social network paid over $5 million in fines and reluctantly agreed to suspend accounts accused of spreading disinformation.

The court yesterday issued a press release announcing the reinstatement, saying that X has complied with all the orders it previously defied. Brazil Supreme Court Judge Alexandre de Moraes ordered that the suspension be ended and that telecom agency Anatel take steps to allow the platform’s return.

The dispute began in April, when X refused to suspend certain accounts belonging to supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro. X, formerly Twitter, was banned in Brazil for over a month. Internet providers, including Musk’s Starlink service, were ordered to block the social network.

In late August, X claimed the orders violate Brazil’s own laws and said it would defy them even if it meant being shut down. “Unlike other social media and technology platforms, we will not comply in secret with illegal orders. To our users in Brazil and around the world, X remains committed to protecting your freedom of speech,” the company said at the time.

X now accepts “boundaries of the law”

X also said that de Moraes targeted the platform “simply because we would not comply with his illegal orders to censor his political opponents.” Now that it has suspended the accounts, X said it is still fighting for free speech “within the boundaries of the law.”

“X is proud to return to Brazil,” the company’s Global Government Affairs account said yesterday. “Giving tens of millions of Brazilians access to our indispensable platform was paramount throughout this entire process. We will continue to defend freedom of speech, within the boundaries of the law, everywhere we operate.”

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Elon Musk’s X gives up fight in Brazil, starts complying with judge’s demands

elon musk, elon musk brazil, Policy, x brazil / /

Xed out in Brazil —

X announces reversal but must prove compliance before it can be reinstated.

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Photo illustration shows the X logo displayed on a smartphone screen with a flag of Brazil in the background.

Getty Images | SOPA Images

Elon Musk is apparently conceding defeat in his fight with Brazil Supreme Court Judge Alexandre de Moraes, as the X social platform has started complying with the judge’s demands in an attempt to get the service un-blocked in the country.

X previously refused to suspend dozens of accounts accused of spreading disinformation. Internet service providers have been blocking X under orders from the government since early September, and De Moraes seized $2 million from a Starlink bank account and $1.3 million from an X account to collect on fines issued to X.

X has claimed the orders violate Brazil’s own laws. “Unlike other social media and technology platforms, we will not comply in secret with illegal orders. To our users in Brazil and around the world, X remains committed to protecting your freedom of speech,” the company said in late August.

But in a reversal detailed in a court filing on Friday night, “X’s lawyers said the company had done exactly what Mr. Musk vowed not to: take down accounts that a Brazilian justice ordered removed because the judge said they threatened Brazil’s democracy,” The New York Times reported. “X also complied with the justice’s other demands, including paying fines and naming a new formal representative in the country, the lawyers said.” (X said last month that its previous legal representative in Brazil resigned after de Moraes threatened her with imprisonment.)

X has to prove compliance

According to Reuters, “It was not immediately clear which were the accounts X has been ordered to block, as the probe is confidential.” But it has been reported that many of the accounts belonged to supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro, who was accused of instigating the January 8, 2023, attack on the Brazilian Congress after his election loss. Some of the accounts reportedly belonged to users accused of threatening federal police officers involved in a probe of Bolsonaro.

De Moraes acknowledged X’s about-face in an order issued Saturday and said that X must submit documents proving its compliance before it can be reinstated. X had an estimated 22 million users in Brazil before the suspension. Bluesky and Meta’s Threads gained users in the country after X was blocked by ISPs.

X briefly became accessible in Brazil last week after the company started routing traffic through Cloudflare, but Brazil’s telecom regulatory agency said that Cloudflare subsequently made changes that let ISPs resume their blocking of X without affecting other websites that use Cloudflare. (Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince later denied working with the Brazilian government to implement any such changes.) While X said it was merely “an inadvertent and temporary service restoration to Brazilian users,” de Moraes announced a new daily fine of more than $900,000 for failing to comply with the order suspending X operations in Brazil.

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Brazil judge seizes cash from Starlink to cover fine imposed on Elon Musk’s X

elon musk brazil, Policy, starlink brazil / /

Forced withdrawal —

Starlink and X treated as one economic group, forcing both to pay X fines.

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A supporter of former Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro holds a sign that has a picture of Elon Musk and the text,

Enlarge / Supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro participate in an event in the central area of Sao Paulo, Brazil, on September 7, 2024. Bolsonaro backers called for the impeachment of Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes.

Getty Images | NurPhoto

Brazil seized about $2 million from a Starlink bank account and another $1.3 million from X to collect on fines issued to Elon Musk’s social network, the country’s Supreme Court announced Friday.

Supreme Court Judge Alexandre de Moraes previously froze the accounts of both companies, treating them as the same de facto economic group because both are controlled by Musk. The Starlink and X bank accounts were unfrozen last week after the money transfers ordered by de Moraes.

Two banks carried out orders to transfer the money from Starlink and X to Brazil’s government. “After the payment of the full amount that was owed, the justice (de Moraes) considered there was no need to keep the bank accounts frozen and ordered the immediate unfreezing of bank accounts/financial assets,” the court said, as quoted by The Associated Press.

The suspension of X’s social platform, formerly named Twitter, remains in place. The dispute began several months ago when Musk said he would disobey an order from de Moraes to suspend dozens of accounts accused of spreading disinformation. De Moraes later ordered the X social platform to be blocked by Internet service providers. X closed its office in Brazil and did not pay the fines.

Starlink initially said it would refuse to block X on its broadband service until the government unfroze its assets. Starlink quickly backtracked, agreeing to block X, but said it would fight the asset freeze in court. The Brazil Supreme Court’s announcement of the money transfers said that Starlink and X missed a deadline to appeal the finding that they are part of the same de facto economic group.

Shotwell accused justice of “harassing Starlink”

Starlink has called the order to freeze its assets “an unfounded determination that Starlink should be responsible for the fines levied—unconstitutionally—against X.” SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell accused de Moraes of “harassing Starlink.”

X has said that de Moraes targeted the platform “simply because we would not comply with his illegal orders to censor his political opponents.” X also argued that it is not defying Brazilian law.

“We are absolutely not insisting that other countries have the same free speech laws as the United States. The fundamental issue at stake here is that Judge de Moraes demands we break Brazil’s own laws. We simply won’t do that,” X’s Global Government Affairs account wrote.

As noted by CNBC, Brazilian news agency UOL reported last week “that some of the accounts de Moraes ordered Musk to suspend at X belong to users who allegedly threatened federal police officers involved in a probe of former right-wing Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro.”

Bolsonaro was accused of instigating the January 8, 2023, attack on the Brazilian Congress that occurred after Bolsonaro’s election loss. Bolsonaro and his supporters praised Musk in April of this year after Musk’s decision to defy the orders to block X accounts associated with Bolsonaro supporters.

Brazil judge seizes cash from Starlink to cover fine imposed on Elon Musk’s X Read More »