Elon Musk’s X platform will stop operating in Brazil. In a post from X’s Global Government Affairs account on Saturday, the social media platform outlined that “effective immediately” it will be closing its operation in Brazil to “protect the safety of our staff”.
X claims that Brazillian judge Alexandre de Moraes has threatened its legal council in the country, Rachel Nova, with a daily fine of 20,000 reis ($3,653) and an arrest decree if the platform did not comply with what it is calling “censorship orders”.
“As a result, to protect the safety of our staff, we have made the decision to close our operation in Brazil, effective immediately,” reads the statement from X.
The X service will remain available for people to use in Brazil. It is unclear how many jobs will be lost due to this decision.
Elon Musk, the billionaire owner of X, has lashed out on the platform, describing Moraes as “an utter disgrace to justice.”
In a separate post, Musk also stated “The decision to close the X office in Brazil was difficult, but, if we had agreed to @alexandre’s (illegal) secret censorship and private information handover demands, there was no way we could explain our actions without being ashamed.”
Due to demands by “Justice” @Alexandre in Brazil that would require us to break (in secret) Brazilian, Argentinian, American and international law, 𝕏 has no choice but to close our local operations in Brazil.
He is an utter disgrace to justice. https://t.co/yAvX1TpuRp
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 17, 2024
Why is there a conflict between X and the Supreme Court in Brazil?
The conflict between the judge and X began earlier this year when Moraes ordered X to block certain accounts as part of his investigation into “digital militias” that were accused of spreading fake news and hate messages during Brazil’s previous government.
After Musk stated he would reactivate blocked accounts, Moraes opened an inquiry into the tech entrepreneur. According to Reuters, Musk described Moraes’ rulings as “unconstitutional” and stated, “These demands violate Brazilian, Argentinian and US law!”
Despite these statements from the platform’s CEO, X representatives told the Supreme Court in Brazil that it would comply with Moraes’ legal rulings, claiming that “operational faults” allowed users who were ordered blocked to remain active on the platform.
Musk has long described himself as a “free speech absolutist” and has attempted to challenge legal decisions affecting X previously.
Featured image credit: Midjourney
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