The Federal Supreme Court (STF) in Brazil suspends Elon Musk’s social network after it fails to comply with orders from Minister Alexandre de Moraes to dam accounts of those being investigated by the Brazilian justice system.
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X has to pay one last positive before the social network owned by Elon Musk is allowed back online in Brazil, in line with a call out Friday from the country’s top justice, Alexandre de Moraes.
The platform was suspended nationwide at the top of August, a call upheld by a panel of judges on Sept. 2. Earlier this month, X filed paperwork informing Brazil’s supreme court that it’s now in compliance with orders, which it previously defied.
As Brazil’s G1 Globo reported, X must now pay a latest positive of 10 million reals (about $2 million) for 2 additional days of non-compliance with the court’s orders. X’s legal representative in Brazil, Rachel de Oliveira, can also be required to pay a positive of 300,000 reals.
The case dates back to April, when de Moraes, the minister of Brazil’s supreme court, generally known as Supremo Tribunal Federal (STF), initiated a probe into Musk and X over alleged obstruction of justice.
Musk had vowed to defy the court’s orders to take down certain accounts in Brazil. He called the court’s actions “censorship,” and railed online against de Moraes, describing the judge as a “criminal” and inspiring the U.S. to finish foreign aid to Brazil.
In mid-August, Musk closed down X offices in Brazil. That left his company with no legal representative within the country, a federal requirement for all tech platforms to do business there.
By Aug. 28, de Moraes’ court threatened a ban and fines if X didn’t appoint a legal representative inside 24 hours, and if it didn’t comply with takedown requests for accounts the court said had engaged in plots to dox or harm federal agents, amongst other things.
Earlier this month, the STF froze the business assets of Musk corporations, including each X and satellite web business Starlink, operating in Brazil. The STF said in court filings that it viewed Starlink parent SpaceX and X as corporations that worked together as related parties.
Musk wrote in a post on X at the moment that, “Unless the Brazilian government returns the illegally seized property of and SpaceX, we’ll seek reciprocal seizure of presidency assets too.”
On August 29, 2024, in Brazil, the Minister of the Supreme Court, STF Minister Alexandre de Moraes, orders the blocking of the accounts of one other company, Starlink, of Elon Musk, to ensure the payment of fines imposed by the STF as a result of the shortage of representatives of X in Brazil.
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As head of the STF, de Moraes has long supported federal regulations to rein in hate speech and misinformation online. His views have garnered pushback from tech corporations and far-right officials within the country, together with former President Jair Bolsonaro and his supporters.
Bolsonaro is under investigation, suspected of orchestrating a coup in Brazil after losing the 2022 presidential election to current President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
While Musk has called for retribution against de Moraes and Lula, he has worked with and praised Bolsonaro for years. The previous president of Brazil authorized SpaceX to deliver satellite web services commercially in Brazil in 2022.
Musk bills himself as a free speech defender, but his track record suggests otherwise. Under his management, X removed content critical of ruling parties in Turkey and India at the federal government’s insistence. X agreed to greater than 80% of presidency take-down requests in 2023 over a comparable period the prior yr, in line with evaluation by the tech news site Remainder of World.
X faces increased competition in Brazil from social apps like Meta-owned Threads, and Bluesky, which have attracted users during its suspension.
Starlink also faces competition in Brazil from eSpace, a French-American firm that gained permission this yr from the National Telecommunications Agency (Anatel) to deliver satellite web services within the country.
Lukas Darien, an attorney and law professor at Brazil’s Facex University Center, told CNBC that the STF’s enforcement actions against X are prone to change the best way large technology corporations will view the court.
“There isn’t any change to the law here,” Darien wrote in a message. “But specifically, big tech corporations at the moment are aware that the laws might be applied no matter the dimensions of a business and the magnitude of its reach within the country.”
Musk and representatives for X didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment on Friday.
Late Thursday, X Global Government Affairs posted the next statement:
“X is committed to protecting free speech inside the boundaries of the law and we recognize and respect the sovereignty of the countries through which we operate. We imagine that the people of Brazil getting access to X is crucial for a thriving democracy, and we’ll proceed to defend freedom of expression and due technique of law through legal processes.”
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