Brazilian Supreme Court judge Alexandre de Moraes has ordered the country’s internet service providers to block the X social media platform. The New York Times reports that the order stems from Elon Musk’s refusal to appoint a legal representative for his business and to comply with Moraes’ order to shut down X’s accounts, which he considers harmful to the democratic process. The order was placed broadcast online By a Brazilian news site Power 360.
The court gave a deadline to telecom companies and tech giants to remove Xi from their app stores and platforms. Apple and Google have five days to remove the social media app from their app stores. This was reported by the Brazilian telecommunications agency Anatel confirmed receipt of the orderand ISPs in the country have only 24 hours to comply.
Justice Moraes’ order not only blocks the country’s access to X. It also makes it a crime to use the app over a virtual private network (VPN). Anyone accessing X with a VPN can be fined 50,000 Brazilian Reals (about $8,900) per day.
Justice Moraes also froze Brazil’s bank accounts SpaceX’s Starlink On Thursday, the internet service provider will put further pressure on Musk to comply with the court order. SpaceX, like X, is a private company owned by Musk, and X has $3 million in unpaid fines related to its work in the country. A day earlier, Justice Moraes threatened to ban the X platform in all of Brazil if the social media company did not appoint a legal representative in the country. The deadline passed without any changes to the court order, so the judge kept his promise.
Starlink expressed its displeasure with the order, vowing to fight the decision. He even threatened to give his services to clients for free in order to violate justice.
The legal battle between Justice Moraes and Musk has been heating up for months. The Judge of the Supreme Court is also Brazil’s electoral authority and monitors and instructs candidates to avoid the spread of false information through internet and social media channels.
Brazil’s 2022 presidential election between popular incumbent Jair Bolsonaro and rival and former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is reportedly riddled with attempts to mislead voters. Justice Moraes was until recently president of the country’s Supreme Electoral Court, giving him the power to order the removal of content that violates previous court rulings. The judge removed a similar block of the messaging app Telegram canceled after compliance due to non-freezing of offending accounts.
Musk characterized Moraes’ instructions to remove or freeze similar disinformation accounts from X as “censorship orders.” Earlier this monthMusk said X has continued to refuse to comply with the lawsuit by closing its Brazil office “to protect the safety of our employees.” X’s Global Government Relations team also promised to publish all “Judge de Moraes’ illegal claims and all related court documents.”
