Brazil blocks X after Supreme Court judge’s suspension order

(Sao Paulo) Brazil began blocking Elon Musk’s social media platform X early Saturday, making it largely inaccessible both on the web and via mobile apps after the billionaire refused to appoint a legal representative in the country.

The move escalates a months-long feud between Mr. Musk and a Brazilian Supreme Court justice over free speech, far-right accounts and disinformation. Judge Alexandre de Moraes ordered the stay on Friday.

To block X, Brazil’s telecommunications regulator Anatel asked internet service providers to suspend users’ access to the social media platform. By Saturday after midnight local time, major operators had begun doing so.

Judge Moraes had warned Elon Musk on Wednesday night that X could be blocked in Brazil if it did not comply with his order to appoint a representative, and had set a deadline of 24 hours. The company has not had a representative in the country since the beginning of the month.

“Elon Musk has shown his total lack of respect for Brazilian sovereignty and, in particular, for the judiciary, by setting himself up as a true supranational entity, immune to the laws of each country,” Mr. de Moraes wrote in his decision on Friday.

The judge announced that the platform would remain suspended until it complies with his orders, and also set a daily fine of 50,000 reais ($11,958) for individuals or companies using VPNs to access it.

In a subsequent ruling, it reversed its initial decision to set a five-day deadline for internet service providers themselves – not just the telecoms regulator – to block access to X, as well as its directive to app stores to remove virtual private networks, or VPNs.

A heavy market of 40 million monthly users

Brazil is an important market for X, which has struggled with the loss of advertising revenue since Elon Musk bought Twitter in 2022. Some 40 million Brazilians, or about a fifth of the population, access X at least once a month, according to market research group Emarketer.

“This is a sad day for X users around the world, especially those in Brazil, who are being denied access to our platform. I wish this didn’t happen – it breaks my heart,” X CEO Linda Yaccarino wrote Friday night, adding that Brazil was failing to live up to its constitutional commitment to ban censorship.

X posted on his official Global Government Affairs page on Thursday that he expected the social network to be shut down by Mr. de Moraes, simply because the network is not complying with illegal censorship orders from his political opponents.

“When we tried to defend ourselves in court, Judge de Moraes threatened our Brazilian legal representative with imprisonment. Even after she resigned, he froze all her bank accounts,” the company complained. “Our challenges to his blatantly illegal actions have been either dismissed or ignored. Judge de Moraes’ colleagues at the Supreme Court are unwilling or unable to stand up to him,” it added.

X opposed Mr de Moraes because of his reluctance to comply with user blocking orders.

Accounts the platform has previously shut down on Brazil’s orders include lawmakers affiliated with former President Jair Bolsonaro’s right-wing party and activists accused of undermining Brazilian democracy.

In his decision Friday, de Moraes cited Musk’s statements as evidence that X’s conduct “is clearly aimed at continuing to encourage extremist messages, hate speech and anti-democratic speech, and at trying to shield them from judicial review.”

In April, Mr. de Moraes included Mr. Musk as a target in an ongoing investigation into the spread of fake news and opened a separate investigation into the executive branch for alleged obstruction.

Mr. Musk, a self-proclaimed “free speech absolutist,” has repeatedly said the court’s actions amount to censorship. His argument has been echoed by Brazil’s political right. He has frequently insulted Mr. de Moraes on his platform, calling him a dictator and a tyrant.

Mr de Moraes’s lawyers have said his actions targeting X were legal, supported by most Supreme Court justices and served to protect democracy at a time when it is under threat.

The order he issued Friday is based on Brazilian law that requires foreign companies to have representation in the country so they can be informed of legal proceedings against them.