Elon Musk confirms Brazil X office closure

Aug. 17 (UPI) -- Social media platform X will immediately close its office in Brazil over a dispute with one of the country's top judges related to censorship, billionaire owner Elon Musk announced Saturday.

In a post Saturday afternoon, Musk said there was no other option but shutting down the office, rather than give in to alleged demands being made by Judge Alexandre de Moraes, who serves as a justice on Brazil's Supreme Federal Court.

The X service will remain accessible to the people of Brazil for the time being.

"Due to demands by 'Justice' Alexandre in Brazil that would require us to break (in secret) Brazilian, Argentinian, American and international law, has no choice but to close our local operations in Brazil. He is an utter disgrace to justice," Musk said in the post.

"The decision to close the office in Brazil was difficult, but, if we had agreed to Alexandre's (illegal) secret censorship and private information handover demands, there was no way we could explain our actions without being ashamed," Musk said in a second post an hour later.

Musk and X contend Moraes threatened the company's staff with arrest if they did not comply with demands issued by his office.

"Last night, Alexandre de Moraes threatened our legal representative in Brazil with arrest if we do not comply with his censorship orders. He did so in a secret order, which we share here to expose his actions," the X Global Government Affairs account said in a lengthy statement Saturday.

"Despite our numerous appeals to the Supreme Court not being heard, the Brazilian public not being informed about these orders and our Brazilian staff having no responsibility or control over whether content is blocked on our platform, Moraes has chosen to threaten our staff in Brazil rather than respect the law or due process.

"His actions are incompatible with democratic government. The people of Brazil have a choice to make -- democracy, or Alexandre de Moraes."

Earlier in the year, the judge ordered X to block certain accounts he referred to as "digital militias," accused of spreading fake news and hate messages during the government of former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro .

Musk in April publicly called for Moraes to step down or be impeached after the judge launched an inquiry into the X social media platform in an escalating disagreement over misinformation dating back to the Jan. 8 riots in Brasilia in 2023.

At the time, Musk accused Brazilian court decisions of forcing X to "block certain popular accounts in Brazil." He also said the court was attempting to issue a gag order preventing X from talking about the action, which he deemed unconstitutional, saying the company would no longer comply.