The judges of Brazil’s federal highest court ruled in favor of upholding directives that prohibit the countrywide use of Elon Musk’s social network X.
Although Luiz Fux, one of the justices, voted in favor of the order’s provisions allowing the court to punish people or companies for “subterfuge,” such as using VPNs, to access X while it is prohibited, he did so with “reservations.”
The contentious suspension orders were handed late on Friday by Alexandre de Moraes, the senior justice of the court, following a warning on Wednesday that Musk and X would suffer “penalty of suspension of activities” if they did not designate a legal representation for their corporation in Brazil within 24 hours.
X has previously disregarded court orders to remove content or accounts that it claimed broke Brazilian rules against hate speech and political propaganda on the internet.
In order to guarantee that Musk’s social network would cover its penalty, the court also placed a freeze on the financial assets of another company he founded, the Brazilian satellite internet provider Starlink.
Internet service providers, such as Starlink, were ordered by Brazil’s telecom regulator Anatel to prevent access to X within the nation until it complies with the court orders. But according to UOL, a Brazilian news outlet, Starlink has told the authorities that it would not be following the directives, and as a result, Brazil may cancel its licenses for the company to operate there.
Brazil is a significant non-NATO ally of the United States with a large internet population. As of early Saturday, the government has suspended X, rendering the app and website mostly unavailable to users.
According to Musk and his businesses, de Moraes’ actions are “illegal,” and the court’s directives were given without following the proper procedures. Throughout the week, the tech millionaire has increased the volume of his attacks and calls for de Moraes’ impeachment. Over the course of the American Labor Day weekend, Musk’s rhetoric intensified.
Without offering any proof, he demanded that the United States stop giving money to Brazil and said that “those who support the current regime in Brazil will have their assets confiscated in return to pay for their illegal actions.”
Musk referred to de Moraes as a “criminal” on Monday and stated in a another post on X, “We will seek reciprocal seizure of government assets too, unless the Brazilian government returns the unlawfully seized property of and SpaceX.”
According to the Associated Press, many Brazilians “had difficulty and doubts over navigating other social media in its absence,” and the blocking of X in Brazil “divided users and politicians over the legitimacy of the ban.”
But some Brazilian social media users are switching to other networks. Bluesky revealed “new all-time-highs for activity” from Brazilian users on August 30.
A Monday comment request was not immediately answered by SpaceX or Musk.
Musk has presented himself as a supporter of free speech, but his record is mixed. Under his supervision, X has eliminated content critical of the ruling parties in Turkey and India, despite his resistance to calls from authorities in Brazil and Australia to delete accounts or content.
