The Federal Supreme Court (STF) in Brazil suspends Elon Musk’s social media after failing to comply with Minister Alexandre de Moraes’ orders to block the accounts of those under investigation by the Brazilian justice system.
Cris Faga | Nurphoto Getty Images
UX must pay a final fine before Elon Musk’s social network is allowed to come back online in Brazil, according to a ruling issued Friday by the country’s top judge, Alexandre de Moraes.
The court was set up nationwide at the end of August, a decision that was upheld by a panel of judges on September 2. Earlier this month, X filed papers informing Brazil’s highest court that it was now complying with the orders, which it had previously defied.
As Brazil’s G1 Globo reported, X now has to pay a new fine of 10 million reals (about $2 million) for two more days of non-compliance with court orders. X’s legal representative in Brazil, Rachel de Oliveira, is also required to pay a fine of 300,000 reals.
The case dates back to April, when de Moraes, minister of Brazil’s highest court, known as the Supremo Tribunal Federal (STF), investigated Musk and X for alleged obstruction of justice.
Musk vowed to defy court orders to freeze certain accounts in Brazil. He called the court’s actions “censorship,” and insulted de Moraes online, describing the judge as a “criminal” and urging the US to end foreign aid to Brazil.
In mid-August, Musk closed X’s offices in Brazil. That left his company without a legal representative in the country, a federal requirement for all tech platforms to do business there.
On August 28, the court of de Moraes threatened with bans and fines if X did not appoint a lawyer within 24 hours, and if he did not comply with requests to reduce the accounts the court said he was involved in plans to kill or injure. federal agents, among other things.
Earlier this month, the STF froze the business assets of Musk’s companies, including both iX and satellite internet business Starlink, which operates in Brazil. The STF said in court papers that it considers Starlink’s parent SpaceX and X to be companies that work together as related entities.
Musk wrote in a post to X at the time that, “Unless the Brazilian government returns the illegally seized assets and SpaceX, we will seek repeated recovery of government assets.”
On August 29, 2024, in Brazil, the Minister of the Supreme Court, Minister of the STF Alexandre de Moraes, orders the closure of the accounts of another company, Starlink, owned by Elon Musk, to ensure the payment of fines imposed by the STF due to the lack of representatives X in Brazil.
Toni Molina Nurphoto Getty Images
As head of the STF, de Moraes has long supported federal laws to clamp down on hate speech and misinformation online. His views have received pushback from tech companies and far-right officials in the country, as well as former President Jair Bolsonaro and his supporters.
Bolsonaro is under investigation, allegedly planning a coup in Brazil after losing the 2022 presidential election to current President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
While Musk seeks revenge on de Moraes and Lula, he has worked with and admired Bolsonaro for years. Brazil’s former president authorized SpaceX to bring commercial satellite internet services to Brazil by 2022.
Musk bills himself as a defender of free speech, but his track record suggests otherwise. Under his administration, X removed content critical of the ruling parties in Turkey and India at the government’s insistence. UX approved more than 80% of the government’s reduction requests by 2023 over a comparable period the year before, according to an analysis by tech news website Rest of the World.
UX faces increasing competition in Brazil from social apps such as Meta-owned Threads, and Bluesky, which attracted users during its suspension.
Starlink also faces competition in Brazil from eSpace, a French-American company that received approval this year from the National Telecommunications Agency (Anatel) to bring satellite Internet services to the country.
Lukas Darien, a lawyer and professor of law at Brazil’s Facex University Center, told CNBC that the STF’s enforcement actions against X are likely to change the way large technology companies will view the court.
“There is no change in the law here,” Darien wrote in a message. “But mostly, the big technology companies now know that the rules will be applied regardless of the size of the business and the extent of its reach in the country.”
Musk and X representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday.
Late Thursday, X Global Government Affairs posted the following statement:
“UX is committed to protecting free speech within the limits of the law and we recognize and respect the sovereignty of the countries in which we operate. We believe that Brazilians having access to X is essential to a thriving democracy, and we will continue to protect freedom of speech and due process of law through legal processes.”
WATCH: UX is a financial ‘disaster’