It’s a contest between the world’s richest man and a Supreme Court Justice in Brazil.
Judge Alexandre de Moraes has threatened to suspend social media across the country in the coming hours if Elon Musk, the billionaire owner of social media giant X, does not immediately comply with his orders. Musk has responded with insults, including calling de Moraes a “tyrant” and a “dictator.”
It’s the latest chapter in a months-long feud between the two men over freedom of expression, right-wing accounts and misinformation. The deadline for compliance is fast approaching, and many in Brazil are waiting and seeing whether one man bows out.
earlier this month, X removed his legal representative from Brazil on the grounds that de Moraes had threatened him with arrest. At 8:07 p.m. local time (7:07 p.m. Eastern Standard Time) on Wednesday night, de Moraes gave the platform 24 hours to appoint a new representative, otherwise the platform would be shut down until the order was carried out.
According to the Supreme Court’s press office, de Moraes’ order is based on Brazilian law that requires foreign companies to have legal representation to operate in the country. This ensures that someone can be informed of legal decisions and is able to take any necessary action.
Luca Belli, coordinator of the Center for Technology and Society at the Getulio Vargas Foundation, a university in Rio de Janeiro, said X’s refusal to appoint a legal representative would be particularly problematic ahead of Brazil’s October municipal elections, which are expected to see a wave of fake news. Eviction orders are common during campaigns, and not having anyone to receive legal notices would make timely compliance impossible.
“Until last week, that is, 10 days ago, there was an office here, so that was not a problem. Now there is nothing. Look at the example of Telegram: Telegram has no office here, it has about 50 employees all over the world. But it has a legal representative,” Bailey, who is also a professor at the university’s law school, told The Associated Press.
Any Brazilian judge has the authority to enforce compliance with rulings. Such measures could range from lenient actions like fines to more severe punishments like suspensions, said Carlos Afonso Souza, a lawyer and director of the Institute for Technology and Society, a Rio-based think tank.
Brazilian judges alone shut down Meta’s WhatsApp, the country’s most used messaging app, several times in 2015 and 2016 because the company refused to comply with police requests for user data. In 2022, de Moraes threatened to shut down messaging app Telegram nationwide, arguing that it had repeatedly ignored Brazilian authorities’ requests to block profiles and provide information. He ordered Telegram to appoint a local representative; the company eventually complied and remained online.
Afonso Souza said the decision of an individual judge to shut down a platform with so many users would likely be evaluated later by a full bench of the Supreme Court.
De Moraes will first notify the country’s telecoms regulator, Anatel, who will then instruct operators – including Musk’s own Starlink internet service provider – to suspend users’ access to X. According to Bailey, this includes preventing the resolution of X’s website – the term used to convert domain names into IP addresses – and blocking access to the IP addresses of X’s servers from inside Brazilian territory.
Bailey said that because operators are aware of the widely publicized standoff and have an obligation to comply with de Moraes’ order, and doing so is not complicated, X could go offline in Brazil in as little as 12 hours after receiving his instructions.
Afonso Souza said that since X is widely used via mobile phones, de Moraes could notify major app stores to stop offering X in Brazil. He said another possible — but highly controversial — step would be to restrict access with virtual private networks (VPNs) and impose fines on those who use them to access X.
X and its former incarnation, Twitter, are banned in several countries — mostly in countries with authoritarian regimes, such as Russia, China, Iran, Myanmar, North Korea, Venezuela, and Turkmenistan.
China banned X, also known as Twitter, along with Facebook in 2009. In Russia, authorities expanded their crackdown on dissent and independent media after Russian President Vladimir Putin sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022. They have blocked several independent Russian-language media outlets critical of the Kremlin, and cut off access to Twitter, which later became X, as well as Meta’s Facebook and Instagram.
In 2009, Twitter became an essential communication tool in Iran after the country’s government cracked down on traditional media following a disputed presidential election. Tech-savvy Iranians used Twitter to organize protests. The government then banned the platform, along with Facebook.
Other countries such as Pakistan, Turkey and Egypt have also temporarily suspended Twitter before, usually to suppress dissent and unrest. Twitter was banned in Egypt following the Arab Spring uprisings, dubbed by some as the “Twitter Revolution”, but was later restored.
Brazil is a major market for X and other platforms. According to market research group eMarketer, about 40 million Brazilians, roughly a fifth of the population, use X at least once a month. Musk, who calls himself a “free speech absolutist,” has claimed that de Moraes’ actions amount to censorship and has garnered support from Brazil’s political right. He has also said he wants his platform to become a “global town square” where information flows freely. The loss of the Brazilian market – the world’s fourth-largest democracy – would make achieving this goal even more difficult.
Brazil is also a potentially huge growth market for Musk’s satellite company Starlink, because it’s so large and has poor internet service in remote areas.
Late Thursday afternoon, Starlink said on X that de Moraes froze its finances this week, preventing it from making any transactions in the country, where it has more than 250,000 customers.
“This order is based on an unfounded determination that Starlink should be responsible for the fines unconstitutionally imposed against X. It was issued in secret and without giving Starlink the benefit of any due process of law guaranteed by the Brazilian Constitution. We intend to address this matter legally,” Starlink said in its statement.
Musk also added his own derogatory comments at de Moraes while responding to people who shared earlier reports of the ban.
“This man @Alexander is the worst kind of criminal masquerading as a judge,” he wrote.
De Moraes’s defence has said his actions were lawful, supported by a majority of the court’s full bench, and defended democracy at a time when it was under threat.
In April, de Moraes added Musk to an ongoing probe into the spread of fake news and launched a separate investigation against the executive for alleged obstruction.
X said in a statement on Thursday that it expects to shut down its service in Brazil.
“Unlike other social media and technology platforms, we will not secretly comply with illegal orders,” it said. “To our users in Brazil and around the world, X is committed to defending your freedom of expression.”
It also said that De Moraes’ colleagues on the Supreme Court “are either unwilling or unable to stand before him.”