A Brazilian judge on Tuesday ordered the bank accounts of Elon Musk’s ex in the country to be unblocked after the social media platform agreed to pay a fine of more than US$5 million.
The decision by Supreme Court Judge Alexandre de Moraes paves the way for X’s suspension to be lifted in Brazil, where it has been banned from users since August 31 due to a standoff between a judge and Musk over disinformation.
Moraes ordered the shutdown of X in Latin America’s largest country after Musk refused to remove dozens of right-wing accounts and then failed to name a new legal representative in the country as per the order.
In his latest ruling, the judge ordered Brazil’s central bank to unblock X’s bank accounts so he can receive transfers and “immediately pay the stated fine.”
According to the decision, X had informed the court that it would have to pay a fine of approximately US$5.2 million. Moraes, a high-profile judge, has been engaged in a long-running feud with Tesla and SpaceX owner Musk as part of his campaign to crack down on anti-Semitism in Brazil.
The clash between a Brazilian court and a billionaire has turned into a high-stakes feud testing the limits of both freedom of expression and corporate responsibility in South America’s largest country.
X had more than 22 million users in Brazil before the ban was imposed on August 31. The company began complying with Brazilian court conditions for reactivation last week. Musk has repeatedly targeted Moraes in social media posts, calling him an “evil dictator” and dubbing him “Voldemort” after the villain from the “Harry Potter” series.