X Complies with Brazilian Court Orders

By Ricardo Brito and Luciana Magalhaes
BRASILIA (Reuters) – In a significant turn, Elon Musk’s X platform informed Brazil’s Supreme Court of its compliance with orders to curb misinformation, seeking to lift a ban on its service.

Musk had resisted for over five months, labeling the situation as “censorship” during a dispute with a judge in one of X’s major markets, where access to the platform was blocked in late August.

Although a decision from the court regarding the platform’s reinstatement is pending, insiders believe it may return shortly.

X emphasized the importance of its platform for democracy and acknowledged nations’ sovereignty, asserting its commitment to freedom of expression and legal processes.

Justice Alexandre de Moraes initiated actions against perceived threats to democracy and misinformation, leading to the suspension of the platform after Musk closed its Brazilian offices. This conflict also impacted Starlink, Musk’s satellite Internet service, which suffered account freezes by the court.

The altercation with Brazil marks just one episode in Musk’s broader battles with governments in countries like Australia and the UK against online misinformation.

Brazil ranks as X’s sixth-largest market, with approximately 21.5 million users. Researcher Thiago de Aragao noted Musk likely realized the futility of the confrontation as public opinion leaned towards Justice Moraes.

In an effort to bypass the ban, X previously leveraged third-party cloud services for access, but this was soon curtailed due to Moraes’ threats of penalties.

Recently, X took a conciliatory step by appointing a local legal representative, as requested by Moraes, and stated it had blocked nine accounts involved in a misinformation investigation.

Rubens Barbosa, a former Brazilian ambassador, viewed Musk’s concession as positive, underscoring the need to respect law. Sources close to Musk indicated a shift in strategy—maintaining legal conformity while potentially remaining combative.

To that end, X has yet to comment further.