On Friday, the Supreme Court of Brazil ordered the ban of social media platform, X in the country after a standoff that lasted months. Elon Musk responds to the ban by calling it an “oppressive regime.”
The ban, ordered by Justice Alexandre de Moraes, is not news that came out of nowhere. Justice Moraes has been in a dispute with Elon Musk, the owner of X (Formerly known as Twitter), since April of this year.
The judge has also threatened a fine for anyone who used “technological subterfuges” to try and access the social media platform such as a Virtual Private Network (VPN). The fine has been labelled at 50,000 reais ($8,900).
Brazil 2024: Where basic internet freedom is now a crime. pic.twitter.com/Y8XiCx3l5p
— Dr. Simon Goddek (@goddeketal) August 30, 2024
The Dispute
The Supreme Court Judge, in April, had ordered the social media platform to suspend several accounts on the platform that belonged to the supporters of Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil’s former president. Bolsonaro had tried to discredit the voting system during the 2022 elections in order to retain his position after losing the 2022 elections. Billionaire Elon Musk’s refusal to comply with the order led to the judge including the owner of the platform in the investigations.
X claims that Judge Moraes had threatened to arrest a legal representative of X in Brazil if they did not comply with the order. Elon Musk also shut down all the Brazilian offices of the social media platform with their reason citing “censorship” by the judge. However, the platform remained available for the users of Brazil.
Judge Moraes, in a statement, said, “We have a right to defend fundamental rights,” and proceeded to state that the people who violated those rights, “whether in person or through social media,” must be held accountable.
Since August 17, the platform did not have a legal representative in the country, when Musk announced that the X offices in Brazil were being shut down. On Wednesday, Judge Moraes had given the company 24 hours to appoint a new legal representative for the country. The representative is a requirement for all foreign companies operating in Brazil. It was announced that the social media platform would be suspended if a legal representative was not appointed by the given time.
The Supreme Court judge stated that the suspension would remain till all the related court orders on the social media platform were complied with. This included the payment of 18.5 million reais ($3.28 million) which was the fine the company has to pay for ignoring judicial orders. The appointment of a legal representative for the company is also a term for the upliftment of the social media platform’s suspension in Brazil.
Blocking of Starlink
On Thursday, one day after Musk had announced the closing down of his offices in Brazil, Judge Moraes blocked the local bank accounts for Elon Musk’s satellite and Starlink, an internet provider with the aim of enforcing the fines imposed on the social media platform.
However, this decision by Judge Moraes has been criticized by legal experts stating that the internet provider is a different company from X and should not be held responsible for the legal trouble X has gotten into.
While the internet services remain functional as of now, on Friday, Starlink filed a request with the Supreme Court to get the judge’s decision suspended and to unfreeze its bank accounts. As of now, there is no indication when the request will be reviewed.
Elon Musk’s Response
The owner of X used his platform to call Judge Moraes a “dictator and a fraud” and accused him of trying to destroy “democracy in Brazil”.
We willl begin publishing the long list of @Alexandre’s crimes, along with the specific Brazilian laws that he broke tomorrow.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 31, 2024
Obviously, he does not need to abide by US law, but he does need to abide by his own country’s laws.
He is a dictator and a fraud, not a justice. https://t.co/m93B1r0v98
He reposted a post regarding the news with the caption stating that they are shutting down the “#1 source of truth” in the country.
Musk continues to air his frustrations with the decision on his platform and has even referred to Justice Alexandre de Moraes as ‘Voldemort’, the famous villain from the Harry Potter series.
???? is the most used news source in Brazil. It is what the people want.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 31, 2024
Now, the tyrant de Voldemort is crushing the people’s right to free speech. https://t.co/gR8aq3JzzU
Just a reminder that you can always access this platform via https://t.co/bOUOek5Cvy, even on your phone. No app is needed.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 30, 2024
Now would also be a good time to download a VPN in case you get blocked.
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