Musk’s X shuts Brazil operations over judge content orders
Make us a preferred source
Make us a preferred source on Google
The news: Elon Musk’s media platform X announced the immediate closure of its operations in Brazil, citing "censorship orders" from a Supreme Court judge, Alexandre de Moraes.
According to X, De Moraes secretly threatened to arrest Rachel Nova Conceicao, an X legal representative, if they did not comply with orders to remove specific content.
The numbers: The company shared a document allegedly signed by De Moraes, which mentioned a daily fine of 20,000 reals ($5,478) and an arrest decree.
In the post sharing the “secret order”, the social media company said that “to protect the safety of our staff, we have made the decision to close our operation in Brazil, effective immediately."
The service remains accessible in the country, it added.
The context: Earlier this year De Moraes had ordered X to block certain accounts, accusing them of spreading fake news and hate messages during the government of the far-right former president Jair Bolsonaro.
The judge launched an inquiry into Musk after he vowed to restore accounts on X that had been blocked by court order, which Musk labelled "unconstitutional." X later assured Brazil’s supreme court it would comply with the rulings, citing operational errors for lapses.
On Saturday, Musk called De Moraes an "utter disgrace to justice."
“The decision to close the 𝕏 office in Brazil was difficult, but, if we had agreed to @alexandre ’s (illegal) secret censorship and private information handover demands, there was no way we could explain our actions without being ashamed,” he posted.
Brazil's Supreme Court did not comment or verify the authenticity of the document shared by X when asked by Reuters.
The sources: X statement , Reuters
