Brazil's crackdown on Elon Musk’s X is intensifying, with Supreme Court Judge Alexandre de Moraes mandating the "immediate and complete suspension" of the social media platform unless it adheres to all court orders. The judge has also warned that individuals or businesses using virtual private networks (VPNs) to access X will face daily fines of R$50,000 ($8,900).
The conflict between X and Brazil began in April when Judge de Moraes ordered the suspension of numerous X accounts for alleged disinformation, according to a BBC report. X refused to comply, with Tesla CEO Elon Musk pointing out that some of the accounts targeted included sitting members of the Brazilian parliament and many journalists.
On its X Global Government Affairs account, the social media platform detailed that when it sought to defend its position in Brazilian court, Judge de Moraes threatened imprisonment for its legal representative. Despite the representative resigning, her bank accounts were still frozen.
X stated, "When we tried to defend ourselves in court, Judge de Moraes threatened our Brazilian legal representative with imprisonment. Even after her resignation, he froze all her bank accounts. Our attempts to challenge his clearly unlawful actions were either dismissed or ignored. Judge de Moraes’ colleagues on the Supreme Court seem unwilling or unable to confront him."
According to a Reuters report, Brazil’s telecommunications agency is moving forward with the suspension of X in the country. Judge de Moraes has also given companies like Apple and Google five days to remove X from their app stores and block access to the platform on iOS and Android devices.
