Minister Alexandre de Moraes of Brazil's Federal Supreme Court (STF) made the decision and the announcement to deny access to X, formerly known as Twitter . The National Telecommunications Agency (Anatel) still has to carry out the measure. They were given 24 hours to remove access to the website.
Phone stores and platforms were given just five days to remove the app. A local newspaper, Folha, reported that Musk's company was also fined 20 million reais ($3.6 million). The ban from the influential Brazilian legal figure came after Moraes and Elon Musk began to feud in April.
The judge ordered the suspension of dozens of accounts for spreading misinformation—allegedly. Musk has decried this as 'censorship.' Then the two began to exchange insults through interviews.
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said in a radio interview in the spring: “Just because the guy [Musk] has a lot of money doesn’t mean they can disrespect you … Who does he think he is?”
Musk responded by launching a series of attacks denouncing Silva and Moraes as tyrants. “This guy @Alexandre is an outright criminal of the worst kind, masquerading as a judge,” he wrote.
Earlier this month, X removed its legal representative from Brazil on the grounds that de Moraes had threatened her with arrest.
Brazilian law requires foreign companies to have legal representation to operate in the country, according to the Supreme Court’s press office. This ensures someone can be notified of legal decisions and is qualified to take any requisite action.
On Wednesday night at 8:07 p.m. local time (7:07 p.m. Eastern Standard Time), de Moraes gave the platform 24 hours to appoint a new representative, or face a shutdown until his order is met.
X said Thursday in a statement that it expects its service to be shutdown in Brazil. “Unlike other social media and technology platforms, we will not comply in secret with illegal orders,” it said. “To our users in Brazil and around the world, X remains committed to protecting your freedom of speech.”
Given that operators are aware of the widely publicized standoff and their obligation to comply with an order from de Moraes, plus the fact doing so isn’t complicated, X could be offline as early as 12 hours after receiving their instructions, said Luca Belli, coordinator of the Technology and Society Center at the Getulio Vargas Foundation, a university in Rio de Janeiro.
Brazil is a key market for X and other platforms. According to the market research group Emarketer, some 40 million Brazilians, roughly one-fifth of the population, access X at least once per month.
Musk, a self-described “free speech absolutist,” has claimed de Moraes’ actions amount to censorship and rallied support from Brazil’s political right. He has also said that he wants his platform to be a “global town square” where information flows freely.
The loss of the Brazilian market — the world’s fourth-biggest democracy — would make achieving this goal more difficult. Brazil is also a potentially huge growth market for Musk’s satellite company, Starlink, given its vast territory and spotty internet service in far-flung areas.
Late Thursday afternoon, Starlink said on X that de Moraes this week froze its finances, preventing it from doing any transactions in the country where it has more than 250,000 customers.
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