Elon Musk’s X, also formerly known as Twitter, has been banned in Brazil after failing to name a new legal representative in the country within the prescribed deadline set by a Supreme Court judge.
Supreme Court Judge Alexandre de Moraes ordered the ‘immediate and complete suspension’ of the social media platform X until it conforms to all court orders and pays existing fines.
Brazil Bans Elon Musk’s X
The altercation between the social media platform and the courts began when a judge ordered the suspension of dozens of X accounts for allegedly spreading disinformation.
This did not sit well with X owner Elon Musk, who said,
‘Free speech is the bedrock of democracy, and an unelected pseudo-judge in Brazil is destroying it for political purposes.’
As the deadline set by the judge passed, X suspended business in Brazil over a censorship row, and the Brazil Supreme Court judge opened an inquiry into Elon Musk.
The social media platform boasts that a tenth of the nation’s 200 million inhabitants are its users.
By Saturday morning, many users reported that they could no longer access their accounts on the social media platform.
X had closed its office in Brazil at the start of August, stating that its representative had been threatened with arrest if she did not comply with orders, which the platform described as akin to censorship and illegal under Brazilian law.
X accounts of many supporters of the former right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro were ordered by Justice Moraes to be blocked for what he deemed as spreading disinformation.
He also stated that the company’s legal representatives would be held liable if any accounts were reactivated.
X was also threatened with fines for refusing to comply with this order, leading Musk and many critics to accuse the judge of being left-wing.
The Tesla CEO Elon Musk has been involved in several tangles in the last few days and earlier this month was involved in a legal wrangle with the EU over the regulation of X. It was also involved in a spat with UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer.
The head of Brazil’s telecommunications agency, overseeing the suspension of the platform, said that he is proceeding with the compliance to do so, according to the Reuters news agency.
The Judge has also given tech companies such as Apple and Google a five-day deadline to remove X from its application stores and block its use on iOS and Android systems. Persons who try to circumvent the ban by using VPNs (virtual private networks) to access the platform could be fined R$50,000 (£6.7k).
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