The conflict between Elon Musk’s X and the Brazilian judiciary began when Justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered the platform to block certain accounts. These accounts were accused of spreading disinformation and hate speech during the tenure of Brazil’s former right-wing president, Jair Bolsonaro.
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Initially, X complied with the court orders, blocking the targeted accounts. However, Elon Musk known for his strong stance on free speech publicly criticized the actions of the Brazilian judiciary.
He described the orders as unconstitutional and an affront to democratic values. His criticisms became more pointed over time.
The tension reached a boiling point when Justice Moraes allegedly issued a secret order threatening one of X’s legal representatives in Brazil with arrest.
The judge’s directive included fines of 100,000 reais per day for any account that X reactivated after being blocked by the court’s order.
Elon Musk himself became a target of the Brazilian judiciary. Justice Moraes opened an inquiry into Musk accusing him of obstructing justice by resisting the court’s orders and reactivating the blocked accounts.
X announced the immediate closure of its operations in Brazil. The platform addressed that the decision was made to protect the safety of its staff in the country.
According to a statement from X, Brazilian employees had no control over the platform’s content moderation decisions, yet they were being unfairly targeted by the judiciary.
Elon Musk took to X to explain the rationale behind the closure. He argued that agreeing to the Brazilian court’s demands would have compromised the platform’s integrity and principles.
He stated that X could not justify its actions without feeling ashamed if it complied with what he termed as illegal censorship and demands for private information.
X’s Global Government Affairs office further elaborated on the situation. They expressed frustration over their appeals to the Brazilian Supreme Court being ignored and criticized the lack of due process.
The office highlighted that despite complying with similar content moderation requests in other countries, the Brazilian judiciary’s actions were egregious due to the direct threats against their staff.
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Many of the accounts targeted by Moraes’ orders were associated with right-wing supporters of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro.
These accounts often questioned the legitimacy of Bolsonaro’s 2022 election loss and expressed sympathy for the January 2023 insurrection, where protesters stormed Brazil’s Congress, Supreme Court and presidential offices.
Elon Musk has been openly critical of Moraes, accusing him of censorship and overreach. He has frequently posted on X denouncing the judge’s actions as violations of free speech and arguing that they are inconsistent with Brazilian law.
Judge Moraes’ actions have included orders to suspend specific accounts and posts, most of which are sealed from public view, meaning that the reasons for these suspensions are not fully disclosed.
In recent days Elon Musk’s team at X publicly shared images of some of Moraes’ orders, which included demands to remove at least 19 accounts.
Among these were right-wing influencers and a federal lawmaker. Elon Musk’s refusal to comply with these orders led to a sharp confrontation with Moraes threatening severe penalties including fines and the arrest of X’s legal representative in Brazil.
Shutting Down Operations Faced with these legal threats, Elon Musk announced on August 17, 2024, that X would shut down its operations in Brazil to protect the safety of our staff. Despite the closure of the office Elon Musk confirmed that X’s platform would remain accessible to Brazilian users.
In 2022, he ordered a temporary ban on Telegram in Brazil after it failed to comply with similar orders.
While X remains operational in Brazil, the platform could face similar bans or restrictions if it continues to defy Moraes’ orders.
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