The Brazilian telecoms regulator announced on Friday that it was blocking access to Elon Musk’s X social network within the nation in accordance with a judge’s ruling. The judge and the billionaire investor have been embroiled in a legal battle for several months.
The popular social media network was suspended after failing to designate a Brazilian legal representative by the court-mandated deadline on Thursday night.
While Justice Alexandre de Moraes of the Supreme Court has maintained that hate speech restrictions are necessary for social media, Musk has contended that the judge is attempting to impose unwarranted censorship.
Musk stated on X on Friday that “they’re shutting down the #1 source of truth in Brazil.”
At a time when Musk has struggled to generate revenue for the platform through advertising, X may lose one of its biggest and most sought-after markets as a result of the judge’s order.
Late on Friday, X was still available in Brazil, despite reports from several Brazilians on other platforms that their access to X had already been restricted. Local news outlet UOL reported that three of the nation’s leading telecom providers announced they would start limiting access at midnight on Saturday, or 0300 GMT.
This week, the Brazilian bank accounts of satellite internet provider Starlink were frozen due to a conflict. A division of Musk’s SpaceX rocket company is called Starlink.
In his ruling, Moraes ruled that X, formerly Twitter, would remain inactive in Brazil until it met with all relevant court decisions, which included paying fines totaling more than $3 million and designating a local representation in accordance with Brazilian law.
Moraes also mandated that Anatel, the telecoms regulator, carry out the suspension order.
The organization informed Reuters that it is moving forward with compliance, although it gave no timeline.
In order to successfully shut down X in Brazil, telecom providers will have to cease carrying the network’s data and block users from evading it by hiding their locations through virtual private networks[VPNs].
Moraes ruled that anybody who kept using VPNs to access X would be subject to fines of up to 50,000 reais ($9,000) every day.
