Brazil has fined Elon Musk’s companies after some users in the country were able to briefly access social media platform X, despite a ban imposed last month.
Users in Brazil flooded the site on Wednesday after X updated how its servers in the country were accessed.
The recall of the speaker was not intended, the company said. Hours later access was blocked again.
On Thursday, a Brazilian court fined the company five million reais ($920,000; £695,000) for violating the ban.
Supreme Court judge Alexandre de Moraes described the company as having carried out a “trick” to allow access to other users.
He fined X and another of Mr Musk’s companies, internet satellite company Starlink, more than $920,000 (£695,000) for each day X worked in Brazil.
But it is not clear whether the court can enforce the payment of the fine. Mr Musk’s companies have previously ignored Brazilian court orders, including a demand that led to the social media site being shut down earlier in August.
Explaining the sudden access to some users on Wednesday, X said that the change of network providers “caused the temporary restoration of service to users in Brazil”.
“Although we expect that the platform will no longer be accessible in Brazil soon, we are continuing our efforts to work with the Brazilian government to quickly return to the people of Brazil,” said an X spokesperson in a statement.
The company’s explanation surprised observers.
“Everything that happened during the day led us to believe that it was intentional,” said Basílio Rodriguez Pérez, a consultant for ABRINT, the country’s leading trade group of Internet Service Providers (ISP).
ABRINT said X has moved to servers managed by Cloudflare, and that the site appears to be using dynamic internet protocol (IP) addresses that change frequently, indicating to him that the change in access to Brazilian users was intentional.
In contrast, the previous system relied on specific IP addresses that could be easily blocked.
Basílio Rodriguez Pérez, ABRINT consultant, said those dynamic IP addresses may be linked to important services within Brazil.
“Many of these IPs [addresses] they are shared with other legitimate services, such as banks and large Internet platforms, making it difficult to block IP [address] without affecting other services.”
That includes the PIX service, which millions of Brazilians rely on to make digital payments.
Despite the change, some experts say Cloudflare is well-positioned to help Brazil enforce the ban.
“Actually, I think the ban would be more effective if Cloudflare really cooperated with the government,” said Felipe Autran, a constitutional lawyer in Brasilia, the country’s capital.
“I think they will know, because they are the main supplier of many Brazilian businesses and the government.”
Cloudflare declined to comment when contacted by the BBC.
Brazil is said to be one of Mr Musk’s biggest social media markets.
The forum was closed in the country last month after failing to meet a court deadline to appoint a new attorney general.
It marked a significant development in the dispute between Supreme Court Judge Alexandre de Moraes and Mr Musk, which began in April, when the judge ordered the suspension of a number of X accounts for allegedly spreading misinformation.
At one point, Musk’s satellite internet provider Starlink – a subsidiary of spacecraft manufacturer SpaceX – announced it would allow its customers in Brazil to access X. Starlink pulled out after the country’s telecommunications agency threatened to revoke its license to operate there.
Viewers in Brazil expressed frustration with both X and the Brazilian government over the broken relationship.
“It’s a game of chess and we are pieces on the board,” said Mr Pérez. “But we are not playing. It is the government and X who are playing.”
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