In late August, Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered that the X social network be banned in Brazil for violating the country"s rules for online services. Now, it looks like X, owned by Elon Musk, is trying to get the service back online in the country by complying with the court"s rulings.
According to The New York Times, X lawyers filed court papers on Friday night. The filings said that X would once again take down accounts linked to supporters of Brazil"s former far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro.
In addition, X has agreed to pay the fines imposed by the court order. Finally, what used to be Twitter has said it will name a legal representative in Brazil, which is again required by the country"s law for social networks operating in Brazil.
The Brazilian Supreme Court did confirm today that X had indeed made those filings but also said that its lawyers did not file them with the proper paperwork. The court has given X"s lawyers another five days to send over the correct forms.
If X does come back online in Brazil after all these legal filings are made, it should be considered a defeat for Musk. Previously, he and Judge de Moraes have had a huge message feud online. At one point, Musk wrote that de Moraes was "a dictator and a fraud, not a justice."
However, X likely needs to be back online in Brazil, as that country is one of its biggest worldwide markets. Before the shutdown in August, there were an estimated 20 million accounts in Brazil. Indeed, other X rivals have seen a surge in new accounts following the ban. That includes Bluesky, which reported adding 1 million new users just a few days after X was shut down in Brazil.