A panel of judges from Brazil's Supreme Court has voted unanimously to uphold orders banning the nationwide use of Elon Musk's social network X.
One of the judges, Luiz Fux, voted to uphold it but expressed “reservations” a couple of component of the order that permits the court to punish individuals or firms that reap the benefits of “deception,” akin to using VPNs to make use of X while it’s blocked.
The court's chief judge, Alexandre de Moraes, issued the controversial suspension orders late Friday after warning on Wednesday that Musk and X had 24 hours to appoint a legal representative for his or her business in Brazil or face the “penalty of suspension of their activities.” X had previously defied court requests to remove accounts or posts that he said violated Brazil's laws on political disinformation and online hate speech.
The court also froze the assets of one other company run by Musk, the Starlink satellite web service in Brazil, to be certain that his social network would pay the fines it was owed.
Brazil's telecom regulator Anatel ordered web service providers akin to Starlink to dam access to X within the country until the corporate complies with court orders. The Brazil-based UOL reportedStarlink has told the regulator that it doesn’t intend to comply with the orders and now faces the chance that Brazil will revoke its licenses to operate in Brazil.
Brazil's blockade of X took effect early Saturday, rendering the app and website largely inaccessible to users within the country, a key non-NATO ally of the United States with a highly online-savvy population.
Musk and his firms have said they consider de Moraes' actions “illegal” and the court's orders issued without due process. The tech billionaire has ramped up his insults and calls for de Moraes' impeachment throughout the week. Musk ramped up his rhetoric over the Labor Day weekend within the US
He called for an end to the US Development aid to Brazil, adding that there can be “a mutual confiscation of the assets of those who support the current regime in Brazil to pay for their illegal actions,” without, nevertheless, providing any evidence to support his statement.
On Monday, Musk called de Moraes “criminal” and wrote in Another contribution to X: “If the Brazilian government does not return SpaceX’s illegally seized property, we will seek the seizure of state assets in return.”
The Associated Press reported The blocking of X in Brazil has “led to disagreements amongst users and politicians concerning the legality of the ban” and many Brazilians have “difficulties and doubts about navigating other social media without the ban”.
However, some social media users in Brazil are switching to other social networks. Bluesky on August 30 disclosed “new all-time highs in activity” from users in Brazil.
SpaceX and Musk did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday.
Musk has described himself as a supporter of free speech, but his track record is inconsistent. While in Brazil and Australia he defied orders to remove accounts or content from authorities, under his leadership X removed content critical of ruling parties. Türkiye and India.
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