Brazil has officially banned Elon Musk’s social media platform X.
On Friday, Brazil’s highest court issued an order prohibiting Musk’s X, previously known as Twitter, from operating in the country.
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This action follows a heated dispute between Musk and Brazilian Supreme Court justice Alexandre de Moraes, who has previously mandated the removal of content promoting fake news and misinformation from X. Musk has referred to the judge’s requests as “censorship orders.”
Recently, Musk escalated his criticism of the judge on X, labeling Moraes an “evil dictator.”
Earlier in the month, X announced its closure in Brazil, alleging that the judge threatened X representative Rachel Nova Conceicao with arrest if the company did not comply with the content removal directives.
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While X ceased operations in Brazil, the platform remained accessible to its users. On Wednesday, the Supreme Court mandated that X appoint a legal representative within 24 hours. In response, X released a statement on Thursday evening foreseeing a possible ban.
“We anticipate that Judge Alexandre de Moraes will order X to shut down in Brazil due to our refusal to comply with his unlawful demands to silence political opponents,” the statement indicated.
A ban would significantly impact X, considering its substantial user base in Brazil, where tens of millions utilize the platform monthly.
Many accounts suspended by Judge Moraes were linked to supporters of former right-wing president Jair Bolsonaro. Some of these accounts questioned the legitimacy of Brazil’s 2022 election results, which Bolsonaro lost.
Brazil mandates that technology companies have a legal representative within the nation to operate legally. The country has previously imposed bans, including on Telegram in 2022, for similar non-compliance issues. (Telegram has since resumed operations in Brazil.)
In addition, it was reported that the Brazilian Supreme Court froze the finances of Starlink, another Musk-related company. The court determined that Starlink should bear responsibility for fines levied against Musk’s X.
