Brazil's Supreme Court upholds ban on Elon Musk's X

Elon Musk

All five judges in Brazil's Supreme Court have unanimously voted to uphold a ban imposed on Elon Musk's social media platform 'X' by one of its justices last week, Al Jazeera reported. The ban, which went into effect on Saturday, was ordered by Justice Alexandre de Moraes after Musk's company missed a court-imposed deadline to name a legal representative in the South American country.

On Monday, five of the court's justices were asked to consider Friday's decision to banish X from Brazil. "It is not possible for a company to operate in the territory of a country and intend to impose its vision on which rules should be valid or applied," Justice Flavio Dino said as he joined Justice Cristiano Zanin in siding with Moraes.

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"A party that intentionally fails to comply with court decisions appears to consider itself above the rule of law. And so it can turn into an outlaw," he said. Justices Carmen Lucia and Luiz Fux also backed Moraes, making the decision unanimous, as per Al Jazeera. However, some of the judges said that the suspension could be reversed if X complies with previous court rulings.

Moraes's original order, which was released on Friday, had called Musk an "outlaw" who intended to "allow the massive spread of disinformation, hate speech and attacks on the democratic rule of law, violating the free choice of the electorate, by keeping voters away from real and accurate information." Supreme Court ordered all telecom providers in the country to shut down X. The ban will remain in effect until X complies with Moraes's order and pays off outstanding fines totalling over USD 3 million as of last week.

Musk, who bought X, formerly known as Twitter, in 2022, decried the move as censorship. On Friday, he called the platform the top "source of Truth" in Brazil. He further called Moraes a "dictator". According to Al Jazeera, since acquiring X, Elon Musk has made significant changes to the platform, including downsizing its content moderation teams and has increasingly pushed far-right content and unsubstantiated claims on his own personal feed, most recently getting into a spat with the United Kingdom's government over anti-migrant and anti-Muslim riots in the country.

He has also endorsed Donald Trump for United States president, and in August held a deferential interview with the former president and Republican candidate for November's election. But Brazil appears to be serious about clamping down on X in its current iteration. The ban threatens one of the company's largest markets, and comes at a time when Musk has struggled to harness advertising revenue. There are an estimated 40 million X users in Brazil, which has a population of about 215 million.

Companies and individuals caught using the platform through an encrypted connection can face hefty fines of up to 50,000 reais (USD 9,000) per day. Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva also weighed in on Monday, telling CNN Brasil he was "satisfied" with the Supreme Court panel's decision and that it sends a message.

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