Brazilian Judge Orders Suspension of Social Media Platform X in the Country

The Brazilian Supreme Court issued an order for the "immediate and complete suspension" of the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, in the country. This order came after X, owned by billionaire American entrepreneur Elon Musk, failed to present its local legal representative within the timeframe set by the judge. Judge Alexandre de Moraes, who has been engaged with this network for a long time, had given the company 24 hours last Wednesday to introduce a new legal representative. He threatened that if this did not happen, X would face suspension in Brazil. The months-long dispute between X and Judge Moraes began in April 2024 when he ordered the suspension of dozens of accounts on X for allegedly spreading false information and news. Reports indicate that after the 24-hour deadline expired on Thursday evening, September 9, Brazil began blocking the X social media platform. The aforementioned judge also gave tech giants Apple and Google five days to remove X from their application stores. According to the ruling of this Supreme Court judge, using any tools such as VPNs to access X for users in this country will incur a fine of $8,900. In response to the enforcement of the judge's suspension order, Elon Musk referred to the Supreme Court ruling as "dictatorship in judicial clothing" and considered his ruling an example of "censorship." Simultaneously, the bank accounts of Musk's satellite internet company Starlink have also been blocked in Brazil by order of the country's Supreme Court. This is while Starlink is a subsidiary of Musk's SpaceX and is separate from X. X itself had anticipated that it would be blocked upon the expiration of the legal deadline to appoint a new representative in Brazil. The company has not had a legal representative in the South American country since early this month. Foreign companies operating in Brazil are required to have a local representative. The social network had closed its office in Brazil earlier this month and announced that its representative had been threatened with arrest if the orders that X referred to as "censorship" were not complied with. Elon Musk, who supports Donald Trump in the U.S. election campaign, presents himself as a supporter of "absolute freedom of speech." In contrast, his critics say that X has become a breeding ground for misinformation and conspiracy theories from far-right extremists.