Brazil top court lifts Starlink and X account freeze after $3 million transfer

SAO PAULO (AP) — A Brazilian Supreme Court justice on Friday sequestered about $3 million in frozen funds of social media platform X and satellite-based internet service provider Starlink, both companies linked to tech billionaire Elon Musk.

The move by Justice Alexandre de Moraes aims to collect funds that are equivalent to the amount that X owes to the country in fines. Legal analysts have questioned his prior decision to freeze Starlink’s bank account to pay for cases related to X given that the two companies are not interconnected.

Brazil’s Supreme Court said Friday in a statement that de Moraes ruled to transfer more than 7.2 million Brazilian reais ($1.3 million) from an X bank account and almost 11 million Brazilian reais ($2 million) from a Starlink account.

De Moraes made the decision on Wednesday, Brazil’s Supreme Court said. His ruling on the case is yet to be made public.

The social media platform has been under fire in Brazil since it refused to remove content flagged as illegal by the Supreme Court justice.

De Moraes is the same justice who suspended X in Brazil due to Musk’s decision to remove any legal representation for the company in the South American nation. Musk has called the Brazilian justice a dictator and an autocrat due to his rulings affecting his companies in Brazil.

Brazil’s Supreme Court also said that the banks that hold accounts of the two companies were informed on Thursday they had complied with the decision.

“After the payment of the full amount that was owed, justice (de Moraes) considered there was no need to keep the bank accounts frozen and ordered the immediate unfreezing of bank accounts/financial assets,” the Brazilian Supreme Court said.

X did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press.