Social Media ‘X’ Faces Potential Ban in Brazil

X, formerly known as Twitter might get banned in Brazil after missing a court-imposed deadline to appoint a new legal representative in the country.

The social media platform recently closed its office in Brazil, citing threats of arrest against its former representative if she complied with what the company termed “censorship” orders.

The conflict stems from an order by Supreme Court Judge Alexandre de Moraes in April, mandating the suspension of multiple X accounts accused of spreading disinformation.

Tensions escalated when X’s owner, Elon Musk, threatened to reactivate the suspended accounts, calling Justice Moraes a “tyrant” and a “dictator.”

Justice Moraes gave X a 24-hour ultimatum to name a new legal representative, with a deadline set just after 20:00 local time (23:00 GMT) on Thursday.

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Failure to comply would result in the platform’s suspension until a representative is appointed and fines for alleged legal violations are paid.

After the deadline passed, X released a statement indicating its refusal to comply. “Soon, we expect Judge Alexandre de Moraes will order X to be shut down in Brazil – simply because we would not comply with his illegal orders to censor his political opponents,” the post stated.

X further criticized the judge’s demands, asserting that it would not secretly adhere to “illegal orders” and would publish the judge’s requests in the name of transparency.

The legal dispute also affects Musk’s other ventures in Brazil. The bank accounts of Starlink, Musk’s satellite internet company, were frozen following an order by the Brazilian Supreme Court. Starlink’s response on X claimed that the order was based on an “unfounded determination” that the company should be responsible for fines levied against X, which Starlink argues were unconstitutional.

Musk defended the separation between his companies, noting that “SpaceX and X are two completely different companies with different shareholders.” Starlink, a subsidiary of SpaceX, received approval from the Bolsonaro administration in 2022 to operate in Brazil, particularly targeting remote regions in the Amazon.

Justice Moraes has gained notoriety for his actions to regulate social media platforms in Brazil and is also investigating former President Jair Bolsonaro and his supporters for their alleged involvement in an attempted coup on January 8 of the previous year.

This situation is not unprecedented in Brazil. Last year, Telegram was temporarily banned for failing to comply with similar orders, and Meta’s WhatsApp faced temporary bans in 2015 and 2016 for refusing police requests for user data.

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