Brazil’s Supreme Court has ordered the suspension of X, formerly known as Twitter, after a months-long legal battle between the social media giant’s owner, Elon Musk, and the Brazilian authorities.
The company failed to meet a deadline set by Supreme Court judge Alexandre de Moraes to name a new legal representative in the country, following which the top court on Friday ordered an “immediate and complete suspension” of the social media platform.
Why did Brazil ban social media called X?
The Elon Musk and Alexandre de Moraes controversy began when the Supreme Court judge ordered the suspension of several accounts on X, formerly known as Twitter, belonging to supporters of Brazil's former president Jair Bolsonaro, who tried to discredit the voting system in the 2022 election, which he lost.
Brazilian authorities are investigating whether Bolsonaro plotted a coup attempt to prevent current President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva from assuming office in January 2023. In April, Moraes ordered an investigation of Musk, accusing him of reactivating some of the banned accounts.
The Brazilian Supreme Court judge said the suspension would remain until all related court orders on X were complied with, including the payment of fines amounting to 18.5 million reais ($3.28 million), which he had previously slapped on the social media network for ignoring judicial orders.
The order will also be valid until a representative of the company in the country is appointed, he said.
Moraes also froze the financial assets of Musk's Starlink by issuing an order to block the accounts of the satellite internet network that has rapidly expanded the number of its users in Brazil.
Alexandre de Moraes also threatened a fine of 50,000 reais ($8,900) to anyone who used "technological subterfuges" to get around the block, such as a VPN or the virtual private network.
On Wednesday, he told Musk he had 24 hours to find a new representative or he would face suspension. However, as the deadline passed, X said in a statement that it expected Moraes to shut it down "simply because we would not comply with his illegal orders to censor his political opponents."
X reportedly has more than 22 million users in Brazil.
Alexandre de Moraes also threatened a fine of 50,000 reais ($8,900) to anyone who used "technological subterfuges" to get around the block, such as a VPN or the virtual private network.
Elon Musk reaction to the ban on X in Brazil
Elon Musk, who took over X in 2022, reacted sharply to the ban and branded Alexandre de Moraes an "evil dictator cosplaying as a judge."
He also accused him of "trying to destroy democracy in Brazil."
"Free speech is the bedrock of democracy, and an unelected pseudo-judge in Brazil is destroying it for political purposes," he wrote on X.
"They're shutting down the #1 source of truth in Brazil," Musk added.