X Shut Down In Brazil Amidst Supreme Court Spat

Social media platform X was shut down in Brazil over the weekend after the firm refused to comply with a court order to appoint a legal representative in the country.

As of Saturday users in the country were greeted with an error message when loading the service in web browsers, while on the phone app posts stopped refreshing on Friday night.

The move is the latest twist in X’s ongoing spat with Supreme Court judge Alexandre de Moraes that has also seen the bank accounts of Elon Musk’s internet company Starlink frozen.

Moraes ordered the full and immediate suspension of X until related court orders were complied with, including the payment of fines amounting to 18.5 million reais ($3.28m) and the nomination of a legal representative.

Court probe

On Friday he ordered telecoms regulator Anatel to implement the suspension order and to confirm to the court within 24 hours that this had been carried out.

He said individuals who use VPNs to access X could be fined up to 50,000 reais a day.

Moraes late last week set a 24-hour deadline for X, formerly Twitter, to appoint a representative in the country, a requirement for foreign firms operating in Brazil.

The deadline expired at just after midnight BST on Friday, and an hour later X said on one of its official accounts that it expected to be shut down in Brazil “soon”.

The company said it “would not comply with his illegal orders to censor his political opponents”.

In April Moraes ordered X accounts to be shut down while they are investigated for spreading misinformation.

The probe is part of a broader investigation into an alleged coup attempt by supporters of former president Jair Bolsonaro following his election loss in 2022, and its support by online “digital militias”.

X owner Musk threatened to reactivate the accounts and has called Moraes a “tyrant” and a “dictator”.

‘Who does he think he is?’

On 17 August X closed its office in Brazil due after he said the court had made efforts to hold its legal representative in the country personally responsible for non-compliance with the account suspension orders.

The service has remained available to Brazilian users.

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said in a radio interview on Friday, “Just because the guy [Musk] has a lot of money doesn’t mean they can disrespect you… Who does he think he is?”

He said Musk “must respect the decision of the Brazilian Supreme Court… If not, this country will never be sovereign”.

“Any and all citizens from anywhere in the world who have investments in Brazil are subject to the Brazilian constitution and Brazilian laws,” Lula da Silva said.

Telegram and Meta’s WhatsApp have faced temporary bans in Brazil over refusal to cooperate with authorities.

Starlink accounts frozen

It has also emerged that on 18 August, a day after Musk announced the closure of X’s Brazil office, the Brazilian bank accounts for Musk’s satellite internet firm Starlink were frozen in an aim to enforce fines imposed on X.

Starlink and X are part of Musk’s wide-ranging business operations. He owns X and 40 percent of Starlink parent company SpaceX.

In an email to its clients, Starlink said the move may affect its ability to receive payments but that if necessary it would provide service to Brazilian customers for free “until this matter is resolved”.

Starlink is the dominant internet provider in Brazil’s Amazon region.