Tesla X platform suspended as Brazilian judge disputes Musk

Brazil’s Supreme Court judge on Friday ordered the suspension of Elon Musk’s social media giant X’s operations in Brazil after the tech billionaire refused to appoint a legal representative in the country, according to a copy of the ruling seen by The Associated Press.

The move further intensifies a months-long feud between the two men over free speech, far-right rhetoric and disinformation.

Judge Alexandre de Morais warned Musk late Wednesday that X could be blocked in Brazil if he did not comply with an order to appoint a representative. He set a 24-hour deadline. The company has not had a representative in Brazil since the beginning of the month.

In his ruling, de Morais gave internet service providers and app stores five days to block access to X and said the platform would remain blocked until it complies with the order. He also said that individuals or companies that use virtual private networks (VPNs) to access X would be fined 50,000 reais ($8,900) per day.

“Elon Musk has a complete lack of respect for Brazilian sovereignty, especially the judiciary, and he has established himself as a true supranational entity, not subject to the laws of each country,” de Moras wrote.

Brazil is an important market for Google X, which has been struggling with the loss of advertisers since Musk acquired the platform, formerly known as Twitter, in 2022. About 40 million Brazilians, about a fifth of the country’s population, use Google X at least once a month, according to market researcher Emarketer.

X posted a message on its official Global Government Affairs page late Thursday saying it expected X to be shut down by Demorais “simply because we will not comply with his illegal orders to censor our political opponents.”

“When we tried to defend ourselves in court, Judge de Morais threatened to jail our Brazilian legal representative. Even after she resigned, he froze all of her bank accounts,” the company wrote. “Our challenges to his clearly illegal conduct were either dismissed or ignored. Judge de Morais’ colleagues on the Supreme Court were either unwilling or unable to confront him.”

Musk describes judge as tyrant

Unwilling to follow orders to block the user, X came into conflict with Demoras.

The platform has previously shut down accounts on orders from the Brazilian government, including from lawmakers from former President Jair Bolsonaro’s right-wing party and activists accused of undermining Brazilian democracy.

Musk, a self-described “free speech absolutist,” has repeatedly claimed the judge’s actions amounted to censorship, a sentiment echoed by right-wing Brazilian politicians. He frequently insults de Moraes on his platform, calling him a dictator and a tyrant.

De Morais’ defense lawyers said his action against X was legal, backed by a majority of the full court, and protected democracy at a time when it was under threat. His order on Friday was based on Brazilian law that requires foreign companies to have a representative office in the country so they can be notified when there is a legal case against them.

Luca Bailey, coordinator of the Center for Technology and Society at the Getulio Vargas Foundation at the University of Rio de Janeiro, said that given the operators’ knowledge of the well-publicized impasse and their obligation to comply with de Morais’ orders, and the uncomplicated nature of doing so, X could be taken offline within 12 hours of receiving the order.

Other applications that were suspended in the past

The shutdown in Brazil is not unprecedented.

In 2015 and 2016, Brazilian judges repeatedly shut down Meta-owned WhatsApp, the country’s most widely used messaging app, after the company refused to comply with police requests for user data. In 2022, de Moraes threatened to shut down messaging app Telegram nationwide, saying the company had repeatedly ignored Brazilian authorities’ requests to block profiles and provide information. He ordered Telegram to appoint a local representative; the company ultimately complied and continued to operate online.

X and its predecessor, Twitter, have been banned in several countries, primarily by authoritarian regimes such as Russia, China, Iran, Myanmar, North Korea, Venezuela, and Turkmenistan. Other countries, such as Pakistan, Turkey, and Egypt, have also temporarily banned X, usually to quell dissent and unrest. Egypt banned Twitter after the Arab Spring uprisings, in what some called the “Twitter Revolution,” but later restored it.