Elon Musk announced on Saturday that social media platform X will shut down its operations in Brazil “with immediate effect” due to a “censorship order” issued by Brazilian Judge Alexandre de Moraes.
X alleges that Moraes privately threatened one of its legal representatives in the South American country with arrest if he did not comply with a legal order to remove some content from the platform. Brazil’s Supreme Court, where Moraes sits, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
At the request of “justice” @Alexandre They have no choice but to close their local operations in Brazil, as this would require them (secretly) violating Brazilian, Argentine, U.S. and international law.
He is a total blasphemer to justice. https://t.co/yAvX1TpuRp
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 17, 2024
Last night, Alexandre de Moraes threatened the Brazilian legal representative with arrest if he did not comply with the censorship order. He did this with a secret order, but we are publishing it here to shed light on his actions.
Despite our multiple unsuccessful appeals to the Supreme Court… pic.twitter.com/Pm2ovyydhE
— Global Government Affairs (@GlobalAffairs) August 17, 2024
Billionaire Elon Musk’s platform said on Saturday that its X service would remain available to people in Brazil.
Moraes earlier this year investigated so-called “digital militias” that allegedly spread fake news and hate messages during the administration of far-right former President Jair Bolsonaro, and ordered X to block certain accounts.
Moraes began investigating Musk earlier this year after he said he would reactivate his X account after a judge ordered him blocked it. Musk has called Moraes’ decision regarding X “unconstitutional.”
Following Musk’s challenge, X representatives reversed course, telling Brazil’s Supreme Court that the social media giant would comply with the legal ruling.
In April, lawyers representing X in Brazil told the Supreme Court that “operational flaws” had allowed blocked users to continue their activities on the social media platform, after Moraes asked X to explain why it had not fully complied with his decision.