Brazil to investigate Musk after pushback over order to ban X accounts

April 8, 2024

Karah Rucker, Anchor/Reporter

Full story

A judge in Brazil is opening an investigation into X owner Elon Musk after he pushed back against a court order to block some accounts. While X posted that it was forced to block the accounts, Musk said he’s working to change that.

X Corp. has been forced by court decisions to block certain popular accounts in Brazil. We have informed those accounts that we have taken this action.

We do not know the reasons these blocking orders have been issued.

We do not know which posts are alleged to violate the…
— Global Government Affairs (@GlobalAffairs) April 6, 2024

A post by the platform said it had “been forced by court decisions to block certain popular accounts,” and that it did not know “the reasons these blocking orders have been issued.”

According to the post, X was threatened with daily fines if it failed to comply

It is unclear what kind of accounts Brazil wanted blocked, as those were sealed by the court and X isn’t allowed to say.

Coming shortly, 𝕏 will publish everything demanded by @Alexandre and how those requests violate Brazilian law.

This judge has brazenly and repeatedly betrayed the constitution and people of Brazil. He should resign or be impeached.

Shame @Alexandre, shame.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 7, 2024

Musk posted on X, expressing his displeasure and calling for Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes to be removed. Musk later said he would reinstate the affected accounts, contending that he wants to publish the court order, even if it means the platform gets pulled from Brazil.

The judge has now opened an investigation into Musk, saying he is waging a public “disinformation campaign” against Brazil.

“We cannot live in a society in which billionaires domiciled abroad have control of social networks and put themselves in a position to violate the rule of law, failing to comply with court orders and threatening our authorities,” Brazilian Attorney General Jorge Messias wrote.

This is the latest example of a country requiring X to block or censor certain profiles and posts. The governments of India and Turkey have previously threatened to remove public access to X if it doesn’t comply with their censorship requests.

Musk posted instructions on how X users in Brazil can download a VPN to still navigate the social media site in case Brazil does remove public access.

Tags: Brazil, Censorship, Disinformation, Elon Musk, Social Media

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Full story

X Corp. has been forced by court decisions to block certain popular accounts in Brazil. We have informed those accounts that we have taken this action.

We do not know the reasons these blocking orders have been issued.

We do not know which posts are alleged to violate the…
— Global Government Affairs (@GlobalAffairs) April 6, 2024

A post by the platform said it had “been forced by court decisions to block certain popular accounts,” and that it did not know “the reasons these blocking orders have been issued.”

According to the post, X was threatened with daily fines if it failed to comply

It is unclear what kind of accounts Brazil wanted blocked, as those were sealed by the court and X isn’t allowed to say.

Coming shortly, 𝕏 will publish everything demanded by @Alexandre and how those requests violate Brazilian law.

This judge has brazenly and repeatedly betrayed the constitution and people of Brazil. He should resign or be impeached.

Shame @Alexandre, shame.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 7, 2024

The judge has now opened an investigation into Musk, saying he is waging a public “disinformation campaign” against Brazil.

Musk posted instructions on how X users in Brazil can download a VPN to still navigate the social media site in case Brazil does remove public access.