The feud between Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes and Elon Musk escalated on Friday when de Moraes ordered the suspension of Musk’s social media platform, X, in Brazil. This decision came after Musk refused to name a legal representative in the country as requested by de Moraes. The ongoing dispute between the two centers around issues of free speech, far-right accounts, and misinformation on the platform. Musk quickly responded to the suspension by accusing de Moraes of destroying free speech in the country, stating that the Brazilian regime is afraid of the people learning the truth.
Brazil is a significant market for X, with a large portion of the population accessing the platform regularly. Since Musk acquired X in 2022, the platform has faced challenges with the loss of advertisers. X has been involved in disputes with de Moraes over compliance with orders to block certain users, including lawmakers aligned with former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro’s party and activists seen as undermining democracy. Musk, who promotes himself as a supporter of free speech, has criticized de Moraes’s actions as censorship, a sentiment shared by the political right in Brazil.
De Moraes’s defenders argue that his actions against X have been lawful, supported by the majority of the Court, and aim to protect democracy. The justice’s recent decision to suspend X is based on Brazilian law, which requires foreign companies to have legal representation in the country to handle legal notifications. X had previously posted about the expected suspension, citing the justice’s threats against their Brazilian legal representative and the challenges faced to defend themselves in court against what they deemed as illegal orders from de Moraes and his colleagues on the Supreme Court.
Experts suggest that X could be offline within 12 hours of receiving instructions from de Moraes, given the widely publicized standoff and the platform’s obligation to comply with the justice’s order. Luca Belli, from the Technology and Society Center at the Getulio Vargas Foundation in Rio de Janeiro, explained that the process for compliance is not complicated. The situation remains fluid as developments unfold in this ongoing conflict between Musk’s platform and the Brazilian Supreme Court. The clash highlights the complexities at the intersection of technology, free speech, and legal requirements in a globalized digital landscape.
