The Supreme Court of Brazil confirms the suspension of the social network X in the country
The network has been blocked in the country since Saturday morning. The country’s Supreme Court accuses Elon Musk’s platform of not complying with several legal decisions.
No turning back for Elon Musk. The Supreme Court of Brazil confirmed on Monday, September 2, the decision of one of its judges to ban access to the social network X in the country. The court reproaches the platform, owned by the American billionaire, for ignoring a series of judicial decisions related to combating misinformation.
“Elon Musk has demonstrated a total lack of respect for Brazilian sovereignty and, in particular, for the judiciary, by positioning himself as a true supranational entity immune to the laws of each country,” said Judge Alexandre de Moraes. He had given the platform 24 hours on Wednesday evening to appoint a legal representative in the country, under penalty of being blocked.
After the ultimatum was rejected, he decided on the “immediate, complete, and total” suspension of the network in Brazil. The network began to be blocked in the country in the early hours of Saturday.
“Freedom of expression does not protect against repeated violations of the legal system”
Alexandre de Moraes opened an investigation in April against Elon Musk, accusing him of reactivating accounts suspended by a decision of the Brazilian judiciary. The judge has ordered the blocking of accounts of influential figures in the Brazilian ultraconservative movements in recent years, for spreading “fake news.”
“Freedom of expression is the foundation of democracy, and in Brazil, a non-elected pseudo-judge is destroying it due to political motivations,” thundered the American billionaire. “Freedom of expression does not protect against repeated violations of the legal system,” said Judge Flavio Dino, former Minister of Justice under President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, on Monday.
The suspension comes just over a month before municipal elections that will measure the balance of power between the left-wing camp of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and the right, which often sees Elon Musk as its champion. The former Twitter network has 22 million users in the country, according to the estimate of the specialized site DataReportal.