Brazil orders “complete and total suspension of X” after fiery dispute with Elon Musk

On Friday, Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes officially ordered Elon Musk’s social network X (formerly Twitter) to be banned in the country, The Guardian reports. It means the “immediate, complete and total suspension of X’s operations.”

Alexandre de Moraes ordered Brazil’s National Telecommunications Agency to enforce the decision through a local network of more than 20,000 broadband internet providers that have to block X.

Initially, Apple and Google were ordered to act too. The judge wanted them to pull X from their respective app stores within five days, prevent the app’s use on iOS and Android, and block the use of VPN applications. These obligations were later withdrawn to avoid “unnecessary disruptions to third-party companies,” although they still remain on the table.

The ban on X also applies to regular citizens and businesses. A daily fine of 50,000 Brazilian real (roughly 8,900 USD) was imposed and applies to anyone who attempts to use X via VPN.

Elon Musk engaged in a heated online feud with de Moraes for months, after the judge opened an investigation into X for reactivating accounts linked to supporters of former far-right president Jair Bolsonaro and his attempts to stay in power after he was defeated in the 2022 election.

X refused to comply and closed its offices in Brazil. Under Brazilian law, large digital platforms have to appoint a legal representative in the country. X’s deadline to do so expired this week and was followed by de Moraes’ decision to ban the service.

Repeatedly, Musk called de Moraes names. Just today, the billionaire called him “a dictator and a fraud, not a justice,” due to Musk’s opinion that the judge’s decisions are contrary to the Brazilian constitution.

“We will begin publishing the long list of de Moraes crimes, along with the specific Brazilian laws that he broke tomorrow,” announced Musk.

Brazil has a history of blocking large digital services due to their lack of cooperation with orders related to criminal cases. In the past, both WhatsApp and Telegram were temporarily blocked for the same reason, but the bans were lifted shortly afterwards once the companies complied.