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The American billionaire announced Elon Musk -Yesterday Saturday- that the platform X Social media giant Facebook will immediately halt operations in Brazil, Reuters reported, citing what it called “surveillance orders” issued by Brazilian judge Alexandre de Moraes.
X alleges that Judge Moraes secretly threatened one of the company's legal representatives in Brazil with arrest if the company did not comply with legal orders to remove certain content from its platform.
Due to demands by “Justice” @Alexandre in Brazil that would require us to break (in secret) Brazilian, Argentinian, American and international law, 𝕏 has no choice but to close our local operations in Brazil.
He is an utter disgrace to justice. https://t.co/yAvX1TpuRp
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 17, 2024
“In order to protect the safety of our employees, we have decided to stop our operations in Brazil, effective immediately,” X said, adding that the platform's service is still available to users there.
The platform published images of a document it claimed Moraes had signed, which stipulated a daily fine of 20,000 Brazilian reals ($3,653) and an arrest warrant against the firm's legal representative, Rachel Nova Concescão, if the platform did not fully comply with Moraes' rulings.
Brazil's Supreme Court told Reuters it would not address the matter, nor confirm or deny the authenticity of the document published by X.
Last April, the confrontation between Elon Musk and the Brazilian judiciary escalated, as a Supreme Court judge opened an investigation into the American billionaire after Musk said he would reactivate accounts on his X platform that the judge had ordered blocked.
Judge Moraes is investigating “digital militias” accused of spreading fake news and hate messages under the government of former right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro, and is leading an investigation into an alleged coup attempt led by Bolsonaro.
Musk, who describes himself as a defender of free speech, has appealed a ruling by Brazilian judge De Moraes that ordered a number of accounts to be blocked on the platform.
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 @Alexandreshame.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 7, 2024
Musk confirmed that his platform will lift all restrictions imposed because they are unconstitutional, and called on Moraes to resign from his position.
But at the time, no party – whether the X platform or the Brazilian authorities – revealed which accounts had been ordered to be blocked.
