Brazilian Government Blocks Access to X Owned by Elon Musk

Brazilian Government Blocks Access to X Owned by Elon Musk

The Brazilian court ruling can further jeopardize the X business which is already in the doldrums because of shrinking ad revenues.

By Rakesh Raman

Under orders from the Supreme Court of Brazil, the local telecommunications regulator said on Friday (August 30) that it will block access to Elon Musk’s X microblogging site – formerly called Twitter.

Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes has taken the harsh step against X, as it refused to comply with the court orders to suspend certain accounts accused of spreading hate and fake news.

Musk has been openly criticizing the judge of the top court in Brazil saying that Justice Moraes has imposed an arbitrary censorship on the site, which allows users to post tweets of brief text along with images and videos. He insists that free speech is the foundation of democracy.

The billionaire investor Musk also ignored the court order which had asked X to name a legal representative for Brazil by Thursday, August 29, so that the hate speech on the social networking site could be regulated.

The Brazilian court ruling can further jeopardize the X business which is already in the doldrums because of shrinking ad revenues. The feud also led to the freezing of satellite internet provider Starlink’s bank accounts in Brazil while Starlink is a unit of rocket company SpaceX partly owned by Musk.

[ VIDEO: You can click here to watch a related video of Twitter X in Brazil ]

Although reports suggest that some people were able to post on X on Friday, others complained that their access was blocked. Brazil’s top telecommunications carriers decide to gradually block access to X. 

The court judge ordered that X will remain suspended in Brazil until the company complied with all the court’s orders including the payment of over $3 million in fines and appointment of a legal representative in Brazil.

Despite the suspension of X in Brazil, the users can still access the networking site by coming through virtual private networks, or VPNs, which conceal their location. But judge Moraes has ordered that those who continued to access X via VPNs be fined up to 50,000 reais ($9,000) per day.

Meanwhile, Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva asserts that all businesses operating in the country must comply with their legal obligations.

By Rakesh Raman, who is a national award-winning journalist and social activist. He is the founder of the humanitarian organization RMN Foundation which is working in diverse areas to help the disadvantaged and distressed people in the society.