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De Morais orders X to be banned from entering Brazil
The company admitted in a statement that X had anticipated Demoras’ suspension
Brazil’s Supreme Federal Court (STF) judge Alexandre De Moraes on Friday ordered the suspension of South African tycoon Elon Musk’s social media platform X after the company refused to comply with his order to appoint legal representatives. The U.S. Embassy in Brasilia said it was closely following the latest events.
“The authoritarian regime in Brazil is so scared of its people knowing the truth that they bankrupt anyone who tries to find out,” the businessman wrote on X. “Free speech is the cornerstone of democracy, and an unelected pseudo-judge in Brazil is destroying it for political purposes,” he added.
Musk has decided to leave Brazil after de Moras ordered Musk to block certain users under investigation from accessing information about the Brasilia event on January 8, 2023 and to provide some confidential data. The businessman also said that he had no intention of violating Brazilian law, which he claimed de Moras was doing and his fellow judges of the STF did not stop him. He also described the judge as a “dictator posing as a judge” and a “disgrace to the judges.”
De Morais’s appointment deadline is Thursday at 8:07 p.m. Earlier on Friday, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said in a radio broadcast that it was unacceptable for Musk to disrespect Brazil’s institutions simply because he was rich.
Now, Brazil’s national telecommunications agency Anatel must implement the judge’s ruling within 24 hours. In addition, the operator must prevent users who try to circumvent the suspension from using VPNs, and the suspension will remain in effect until otherwise decided, and all fines must be paid in advance.
In defending X’s suspension, de Moras cited the Brazilian Internet Civil Rights Framework and said that internet companies must have representative bodies in Brazil and comply with court decisions on the removal of illegal content. He also argued that Musk pulled the company out of Brazil to avoid complying with the STF’s decision. “The illegal and fraudulent purpose of closing this national company is recognized in the messages published on social networks, namely: the continued non-compliance with the orders of the Brazilian judiciary, especially the Supreme Court,” de Moras was quoted as saying by the Brazilian news agency Agencia Brasil.
He also ordered daily fines of 50,000 Brazilian reais (nearly $9,000) for individuals and companies that use VPNs (virtual private networks) to circumvent restrictions on the suspended sites. The judge also said that two of X’s bank accounts in Brazil had been frozen on August 18 after the social network ignored his first ruling.
The hashtag “#O TWITTER MORREU” quickly trended on X after de Moras’ decision. Twitter was the name the platform used before it was acquired by Musk. The company had anticipated the ban. “We expect Judge Alexandre de Moras to soon order X to be blocked in Brazil for not complying with his order to illegally censor political opponents,” the company said in a statement.
Back in April, de Moraes had already launched an investigation against Musk, accusing him of reactivating accounts suspended by order of a Brazilian court. The judge had threatened to jail X’s representative in Brazil, but after Musk withdrew, he needed another victim to threaten. The judge also froze the bank account of Starlink (SpaceX) to collect a fine from Musk, who is also the owner of the company, but only owns 40%. Therefore, he explained, de Moraes’ decision affected the assets and interests of other shareholders and had nothing to do with X, which is estimated to have more than 22 million users in Brazil.
X is not the first social network to be banned in Brazil. Telegram was temporarily blocked twice in 2022 and 2023 for refusing to comply with court orders. Telegram CEO Pavel Durov was arrested in France last weekend, and prosecutors believe he is an accomplice of criminals who used Telegram to commit crimes.
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