Brazil’s Supreme Court confirms suspension of social network X in the country

The network has been blocked in the country since Saturday morning. The country’s Supreme Court accuses Elon Musk’s platform of not complying with several court decisions.

No turning back for Elon Musk. The Brazilian Supreme Court on Monday, September 2, upheld the decision of one of its judges to ban access to the social network X in the country. The court accuses the platform, owned by American billionaire Elon Musk, of ignoring a series of court decisions related to the fight against disinformation.

“Elon Musk has demonstrated his total lack of respect for Brazilian sovereignty and, in particular, for the judiciary, by positioning himself as a true supranational entity, immune to the laws of each country”said Judge Alexandre de Moraes. The latter had given the platform 24 hours on Wednesday evening to appoint a legal representative in the country, under penalty of blocking.

After the rejection of the ultimatum, he decided to “immediate, complete and total suspension” network in Brazil. The network began to be blocked in the country in the early hours of Saturday.

In April, Alexandre de Moraes opened an investigation into Elon Musk, accusing him of reactivating accounts that had been suspended by order of the Brazilian courts. In recent years, the judge has ordered the blocking of accounts of influential figures in Brazil’s ultraconservative movements for spreading “fake news.”

“Freedom of expression is the foundation of democracy and in Brazil an unelected pseudo-judge is destroying it for political reasons”thundered the American billionaire. “Freedom of expression does not protect against repeated violations of the legal system“, said Judge Flavio Dino, former justice minister under President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, on Monday.

The suspension comes just over a month before municipal elections that will measure the balance of power between the camp of left-wing President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and the right, which readily makes Elon Musk its champion. The former Twitter network has 22 million users in the country, according to estimates from specialist website DataReportal.