Brazil's top court threatens to suspend X in country by Thursday night

BRASILIA (Reuters) -Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered billionaire Elon Musk on Wednesday to name a legal representative for his messaging platform X in Brazil within 24 hours or face the site's suspension in the country, a court decision showed.

Earlier this month, X announced it would close its operations and fire its staff in Brazil due to what it called "censorship orders" from Moraes, while adding the firm's service would remain available for users in Brazil.

The Supreme Court posted a screenshot of Wednesday's court decision on its X account, tagging Musk's and X's Global Government Affairs accounts.

X did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent outside normal working hours.

In the decision, Moraes says that under the country's law regulating internet issues, companies that do not respect Brazilian legislation or the confidentiality of private information could have their activities temporarily suspended.

(Reporting by Ricardo Brito in Brasilia; Writing by Andre Romani; Editing by Brendan O'Boyle)