A Valor media ad features a photo of Elon Musk in a shopping center in Brasilia, Brazil, on September 2nd. Erardo Perez/AP Hide caption
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SAO PAULO – Brazil’s Supreme Court Judge Alexandre de Moraes on Tuesday approved the restoration of social media platform X’s services in Brazil, more than a month after a nationwide shutdown, according to published court documents.
Elon Musk’s X was blocked on August 30 in the highly online country of 213 million people. The country is one of X’s largest markets, with an estimated user base of 20 million to 40 million people. De Moraes ordered the shutdown after months of dispute with Musk over free speech, far-right accounts and misinformation. Mr. Musk has called Mr. de Moraes an authoritarian and a censor, and has expressed contempt for him, even though his decisions, including the suspension of Mr. X, have been repeatedly upheld.
Despite Mr. Musk’s public bravado, Mr. X ultimately complied with all of Mr. de Moraes’ demands. These included blocking certain accounts from the platform, paying outstanding fines, and appointing legal representatives in the country. For failing to do the latter, he was suspended.
“(X)’s resumption of activities on national soil was conditioned solely on full compliance with Brazilian law and absolute compliance with the decisions of the judiciary, out of respect for national sovereignty,” de Moraes wrote in court documents. ” he said.
X did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
On August 28, just two days before the ban, Company X announced that it was eliminating all remaining employees in Brazil “with immediate effect” and that Mr. de Moraes, if true, would be its legal representative in the country. He said he threatened to arrest Rachel de Oliveira Villa Nova Conceição. X did not comply with the order to block the account.
Brazilian law requires foreign companies to have a local legal representative to receive notice of the court decision and promptly take the necessary actions, in particular deleting the account in the case of Company X. . Mr. Conceição was first appointed as X’s legal representative in April and resigned four months later. The company appointed her to the same position on September 20, according to a public filing with the São Paulo Commercial Register.
In an apparent effort to protect Mr. Conceição from potential violations by X and the risk of arrest, Mr. Conceição’s new representation agreement must be subject to Brazilian law and court decisions, and on behalf of X. A clause was written stating that her liability required advance directives. The company notified us in writing, according to its filing.
Conceição works for the business services company BR4Business. The company’s two-page website offers no insight into its operations or staff. At the top of the site’s main page, it says in English: “Something great is happening.” Another page contains our extensive privacy policy.
At three of the company’s listed Sao Paulo offices, receptionists told The Associated Press that the company’s offices are empty and employees are working remotely. Neither Conceição nor BR4Business returned multiple calls and emails from the AP.
There is nothing illegal or questionable about using a company like BR4Business as a legal representative, but it shows that X is doing the bare minimum to operate in the country. , said Fabio de Sá e Silva, lawyer and associate professor of international and Brazilian studies. University of Oklahoma.
“It shows no intent to truly engage with this country. Take Meta and Google, for example. They have an office called Government Relations, which interacts with the very public authorities and their “This is to discuss Brazil’s regulatory policies regarding business,” Silva added.
Indeed, it is unusual for an established and influential company like X to have only a legal representative, said Carlos Afonso Souza, a lawyer and director of the Rio-based think tank Institute for Technology and Society. Ta. And that could be a problem down the road.
“The concern now is what happens next and how, once Company X resumes operations, it can respond to market and municipal demands without creating new tensions,” he said. said.
Some of Brazil X’s users have migrated to other platforms such as Meta’s Threads and primarily Bluesky. It is unclear how many of them will return to X. In a statement to The Associated Press, Bluesky reported that it currently has 10.6 million users and continues to see strong growth in Brazil. Bruski has appointed a legal representative in the South American country.
Brazil was not the first country to ban X, but such drastic measures have generally been limited to authoritarian regimes. The platform and its predecessor, Twitter, are banned in Russia, China, Iran, Myanmar, North Korea, Venezuela, and Turkmenistan. Other countries, including Pakistan, Turkey and Egypt, have previously suspended X, usually to quell dissent or unrest.
X’s conflict with Brazil bears some similarities to the company’s dealings with the Indian government three years ago, when it was still called Twitter and before Musk bought it for $44 billion. . In 2021, India arrested Twitter (and Mehta’s Facebook and WhatsApp) employees for failing to comply with government requests to remove posts related to the farmer protests that rocked the country. I threatened.
Mateo Cerbers, Latin America and Spain analyst at research firm eMarketer, said it’s not surprising that Mr Musk decided to reverse course in Brazil after publicly criticizing Mr de Moraes. said.
“This move is pragmatic, likely due to the economic impact of losing access to millions of users in the world’s third-largest market and the associated loss of millions of dollars in advertising revenue.” It is believed that this was done,” Sabers said. “X may not be a top priority for most advertisers in Brazil, but the platform needs them more than it needs it.”