A judge from Brazil’s Supreme Federal Court (STF) on Friday ordered the “immediate suspension” of social network X (formerly known as Twitter) following the company’s refusal to appoint a legal representative in the South American country.
Court Minister Alexandre de Moraes had warned that he would take such a measure if the company led by the billionaire Elon Musk did not designate a person responsible under Brazilian law, after X failed to comply with legal orders to block accounts used to spread hate messages and fake news.
Moraes issued a subpoena to Musk on Wednesday demanding that a legal representative be appointed in Brazil within 24 hours.
Failure to comply with that order, according to the notice, could result in the suspension of the social network in the country.
Brazil is the sixth largest market in the world for X, with 21.5 million usersaccording to the global data and statistics platform Statista. It is preceded by the United States, Japan, India, Indonesia and the United Kingdom.
The judge’s decision comes after Musk will close the X network office in Brazil on August 17 and lay off employees, including the legal representatives of the company.
At the time, the billionaire justified his decision to close the Brazilian headquarters for “censorship demands” of the STF judge.
The social network reported in a statement that Moraes had threatened the legal representative with arrest if the social network did not comply with the orders, something it described as “censorship.”
On August 8th, Moraes had ordered the blocking of seven profiles of former President Jair Bolsonaro on the social network, but X did not comply with the court decision.
The order also imposed a fine of 20,000 reais (about $3,560) per day.
These fines would have even affected the operation of another Musk company in Brazil, Starlink, which provides internet to users in several regions of the country, according to a statement from the company on X.
According to Starlink, its bank accounts in Brazil were blocked by Moraes.
1. How did Musk respond to the lockdown order?
Musk responded to the order to suspend X almost immediately.
“He oppressive regime of Brazil He is so afraid of the people knowing the truth that he will ruin anyone who tries,” he wrote on his social network.
“Freedom of expression is the cornerstone of democracy and a pseudo judge unelected in Brazil is destroying it for political purposes,” he added.
STF ministers in Brazil are proposed by the president and must be approved by the national Senate.
“They are shutting down the number one source of truth in Brazil,” Musk said.
2. How did the confrontation between Moraes and Musk begin?
He January 8, 2023A crowd of supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro, dissatisfied with the victory of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in the presidency, invaded the National Congress and the Federal Supreme Court, and destroyed national symbols.
After this episode, the STF intensified investigations into the dissemination of false content and the possible financing of groups seeking to threaten Brazilian democracy.
Moraes ordered the blocking multiple social media profiles run by users accused of undermining democracy and the electoral process.
The orders issued by the minister generated negative repercussions among some Bolsonaro supporters and right-wing voterswho claimed the measures violated the right to freedom of expression.
Meanwhile, Moraes had the support of the other ministers of the STF, who emphasized that “Freedom of expression should not be confused with permission to disrespect the law or promote anti-democratic ideals”.
As owner of the social network X, Elon Musk agreed with Bolsonaro’s supporters and accused the Brazilian minister of censorship.
The platform did not delete the profiles and, in doing so, violated the STF’s decisions.
3. Why did Elon Musk close the X office in Brazil?
On August 15, Alexandre de Moraes increased the daily fine imposed on X from 50,000 reais ($8,900 dollars) to 200,000 reais ($35,650 dollars) for failure to comply with its decisions.
The judge had ordered the social network to block the profile of Senator Marcos do Val and others under investigation.
Do Val is being investigated for obstructing investigations into the January 8 forcible entry into the Supreme Court and the National Congress.
Shortly after, on August 17, the social network announced, through a publication on the platform itself, the closure of its office in Brazil, citing threats of arrest against the person responsible for the network in the country, Rachel de Oliveira Villa Nova Conceiçãofor failure to comply with court decisions.
Even with the closure of administrative activities, the social network would continue to function normally.
According to the document made public by X, since he could not locate the company representatives, Moraes ordered the arrest of De Oliveira for having disobeyed the court order and imposed a daily fine on the employee.
The veracity of the order was not confirmed by the STF. Contacted by Agência Brasil, the Supreme Court press office said the Court would not comment on the matter.
“As a result, to protect the security of our teamwe have made the decision to close our operations in Brazil, effective immediately,” the social network announced.
“We are deeply saddened to have been forced to make this decision. exclusive responsibility of Alexandre de Moraes“, the social network added in the statement.
4. Why did Alexandre de Moraes order X’s suspension?
In response to this, on August 29, Moraes gave X 24 hours to appoint a new legal representative in Brazilas required by local law.
The summons was issued through a publication on the court’s official profile on the social network itself.
The minister warned that if the company failed to do so, he could order the social network to be immediately disconnected.
On the official site, the STF stated that “Musk is under investigation” Regarding the “alleged commission of the crimes of obstruction of justice, criminal organization and incitement to commit crime.”
5. How can X be blocked?
On Thursday, X posted a message on the platform suggesting that would not comply with Moraes’ decision to appoint a legal representative of the company in Brazil.
The blocking process in Brazil, as in previous cases, begins in the National Telecommunications Agency (Anatel), which receives a court order from the STF and transmits it to telecommunications operators.
Anatel communicates the need to comply with the order and monitors its implementation.
Blocking often occurs via IP addressespreventing access to the website. In some cases, it may be necessary to reconfigure traffic routes to prevent access from unblocked IPs.
Still could be used via VPN.
Blocking them completely would be a challenge, because there are many different providers and technologies, as explained by Insper professor of Computer Engineering and Computer Science, Rodolfo Avelino, in a recent interview with BBC News Brazil.
In 2023, Moraes had already adopted a similar attitude. He ordered the messaging app Telegram to inform the STF about its legal representative in Brazil, otherwise it would be disconnected.
Then, Telegram He indicated a name and the blocking never occurred, but in the document the STF minister prohibited the use of a VPN to access the application if that were to happen.
Among the Countries currently blocking access to X include China, Iran, North Korea, Russia, Turkmenistan and Myanmar.The level of control over social network connection varies from nation to nation.
Click here to read more stories from BBC News Mundo.
You can also follow us on YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, X, Facebook and in our new WhatsApp channelwhere you’ll find breaking news and our best content.
And remember that you can receive notifications in our app. Download the latest version and activate them.