Elon Musk’s social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, has announced its intention to adhere to the requirements set forth by Brazil’s Supreme Court, aiming to overturn a nationwide ban imposed by the country’s chief justice last month.
For almost three weeks, X users in Brazil have been unable to access US billionaire’s social network, with Brazilian officials making utilizing a VPN to reach the site punishable with a fine of nearly $9,000. This situation arose after Brazil’s Justice Alexandre de Moraes banned X in the South American country due to its inability to restrict accounts that disseminate disinformation.
The owner of the platform, Elon Musk, who is a self-proclaimed champion of free speech, has thus far remained steadfast in his position, characterizing the court orders as an effort to suppress voices on his platform and labeling the judiciary as “an evil dictator cosplaying as a judge.”
Nevertheless, over the weekend, the legal team for X announced that the platform has initiated measures to adhere to the requirements set forth by the Brazilian court in order to resolve the deadlock and facilitate the lifting of the site’s ban.
These measures encompass the payment of outstanding fines owed by X, the suspension of accounts that de Moraes previously accused of disseminating misinformation and threatening Brazilian democracy, as well as the appointment of a legal representative within the country.
Under Brazilian legislation, foreign enterprises are mandated to appoint a representative who will bear all local legal obligations of the company. X maintained such a representative until mid-August, when it opted to shut down its offices and terminate all employees in the country. This decision followed Musk’s assertion that de Moraes had threatened to detain the company’s legal representative if X failed to comply with court directives.
Brazil’s Supreme Court corroborated X’s actions and granted Musk’s company a period of five days to submit the requisite documentation to validate its new legal representative. The court also reiterated its directives to block accounts previously identified in an investigation concerning hate speech and misinformation, as well as to impose fines exceeding $3 million. The specific accounts targeted remain unclear, as the investigation is confidential.
The conflict between Musk and the Brazilian authorities commenced in April when de Moraes instructed X to remove the accounts of various supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro responsible for disseminating “disinformation” regarding himself and the judiciary. Musk initially declined to comply, asserting that such actions would “contravene Brazilian laws.”
