Brazilian Supreme Court Judge Alexandre de Moraes ordered the country’s internet service providers to block X’s social media. The New York Times reports that the order stems from owner Elon Musk’s refusal to appoint a lawyer in his case and to comply with Moraes’ order to close X accounts that he saw as a threat to the democratic process. The order was published online by a Brazilian news website Poder 360.
Justice issued a deadline for telecommunications companies and tech giants to remove X from their app stores and platforms. Apple and Google have five days to remove the social media app from their app stores. Brazilian telecommunications company Anatel has confirmed that it has received the order, and ISPs in the country have only 24 hours to comply with the order.
Justice Moraes’ order not only blocks the country’s access to X. It also makes it a crime to use the app over a virtual private network (VPN). Anyone caught accessing X through a VPN could face a daily fine of 50,000 Brazilian Real (about $8,900).
Justice Moraes also froze the Brazilian bank accounts of SpaceX’s Starlink internet provider on Thursday to further pressure Musk to comply with the court order. SpaceX, like X, is a private company majority owned by Musk, and X has $3 million in unpaid fines related to its lawsuit against the country. The previous day, Justice Moraes issued a threat to block the X platform completely throughout Brazil if the social media company does not appoint a legal representative in the country. The deadline passed without a change in the court docket so the judge followed through on his promise.
Starlink expressed its disapproval of the order and vowed to fight the decision. It even threatened to make its services free to customers to disrupt the order of justice.
The legal battle between Justice Moraes and Musk has been raging for months. The Supreme Court Judge is also the electoral authority in Brazil and has been monitoring and issuing orders to candidates to avoid spreading false information through the Internet and social media channels.
Brazil’s 2022 presidential election between the infamous Jair Bolsonaro and challenger and former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is reportedly fraught with efforts to present voters with false information. Judge Moraes, until recently, was the president of the country’s Supreme Electoral Court, which gave him the power to order the takedown of content that violated previous court orders. A judge issued a similar block to messaging app Telegram for failing to suspend offending accounts, which were removed after compliance.
Musk referred to Moraes’ directives to take down or suspend similar accounts of misinformation on X as “research orders.” Earlier this month, Musk expressed his refusal to continue complying with the court order by closing X’s Brazil office to “protect the safety of our employees.” X’s Global Governments Affairs team also promised to publish all of “Judge de Moraes’ illegal demands and all related lawsuits.”
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