Social media platform X has appointed a legal representative in Brazil — a first step toward being able to restart service in the country — but its suspension will continue until it meets further demands, a judge has ruled.
Brazil’s Supreme Court judge Alexandre de Moraes said in a ruling published on Saturday that X had not yet “duly met” all the conditions to end the ban and gave him five days to file additional documents .
The high-profile judge has been embroiled in a long feud with X’s owner, billionaire Elon Musk, as part of his bid to fight misinformation in Brazil.
X’s suspension last month came after Musk refused to remove dozens of right-wing accounts accused of spreading fake news and then failed to name a new legal representative in the country as ordered.
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The conflict between the Brazilian court and the iconoclastic billionaire has turned into a high-stakes dispute that tests the limits of both freedom of expression and corporate responsibility in South America’s largest country.
The social networking platform had more than 22 million users in Brazil before the ban.
Moraes also ordered X to pay a fine of at least five million reais ($913,000) for violating the suspension order on Thursday, when the platform became accessible again after a technical maneuver that effectively bypassed the government blockade.
X denied deliberately defying the ban, saying it was the “unintended and temporary” consequence of switching network providers. It was later taken offline again.
But Moraes said X had deliberately engaged in “malicious, illegal and persistent” efforts to defy Brazilian justice.
In their ongoing standoff, Musk accused Moraes of being an “evil dictator,” while the judge insisted that X is not allowed to spread misinformation that could endanger democracy.
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The suspension has been welcomed by Brazil’s political left-wing president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, while the right-wing opposition and former president Jair Bolsonaro have denounced it as unconstitutional censorship.
Moraes has also frozen the assets of X and Musk’s satellite internet company Starlink — which has been operating in Brazil since 2022, specifically in remote communities in the Amazon — to ensure payment of fines imposed on the social network for violation of court orders.
Musk has repeatedly hit out at Moraes in social media posts, calling him an “evil dictator” and dubbing him “Voldemort” after the “Harry Potter” villain.
Source: AFP