Judge orders Musk's X immediately shut down in Brazil

SAO PAULO/BRASILIA (Reuters) - A Brazilian Supreme Court justice ordered on Friday the "immediate suspension" of social media platform X in the country, after a court-imposed deadline expired for the company to identify a legal representative in Brazil.

The move is the latest chapter in an ongoing feud between Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes and Elon Musk, which also included the freezing of the satellite internet provider Starlink's financial accounts in Brazil.

In the decision, Moraes ordered the full and immediate suspension of X in the country until all related court orders on X were complied with, including the payment of fines amounting 18.5 million reais ($3.28 million) and the nomination of a legal representative in Brazil.

Moraes ordered telecomunications regulator Anatel to implement the suspension order, and to confirm to the court within 24 hours that it has carried it out.

In a bid to avoid the use of virtual private networks (VPNs) to circumvent the blockage, Moraes said that individuals or companies who tried to keep access to the social network that way could be fined up to 50,000 reais a day.

X said late on Thursday that it expected Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes to order a shutdown "soon," after a court-imposed deadline expired for the company to identify a legal representative in Brazil.

Earlier this year, Moraes ordered X to block certain accounts implicated in probes of so-called digital militias accused of spreading distorted news and hate.

Musk, denouncing the order as censorship, responded by closing the platform's offices in Brazil. X, formerly known as Twitter, said at the time that its services would still be available in Brazil.

Amid the underlying feud over X, Brazil's Supreme Court also blocked the local bank accounts of the Starlink satellite internet firm, which is 40% owned by Musk, leading the company on Friday to ask the court to suspend that decision.

($1 = 5.6349 reais) (This story has been refiled to add the full name of the judge in paragraph 2)

(Reporting by Lisandra Paraguassu and Ricardo Brito in Brasilia and Luana Maria Benedito in Sao Paulo; Editing by Gabriel Araujo, Matthew Lewis and Christian Plumb)