X pulls out of Brazil

The social media giant claims that a Brazilian top judge threatened the company’s employee with arrest

Elon Musk’s social media network X (formerly Twitter) has announced the suspension of operations in Brazil, citing the Brazilian Supreme Court’s alleged censorship orders, which the company refused to comply with.

Earlier this year, Justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered the suspension of multiple accounts allegedly belonging to so-called “digital militants” – a group of influential people associated with right-wing former President Jair Bolsonaro – who have been accused of spreading disinformation about Brazil’s Supreme Court members. Musk, in turn, threatened to “lift all restrictions,” arguing that the ruling represents “the most draconian demands of any country on Earth,” and called for the judge's resignation.

In a statement published on the platform on Saturday, the X Global Government Affairs team claimed that Alexandre de Moraes, acting in secret, threatened the company’s legal representative with arrest if the social media giant did not adhere to the court orders. X also shared a picture of a document allegedly signed by Moraes, which stated that an arrest warrant would be issued against Rachel Nova Conceição, in addition to a daily fine of 20,000 Brazilian reals ($3,650).

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.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 17, 2024

”Moraes has chosen to threaten our staff in Brazil rather than respect the law or due process,” the post read. “As a result, to protect the safety of our staff, we have made the decision to close our operations in Brazil, effective immediately,” laying the blame “solely” on Alexandre de Moraes.

The company, however, stated that the service will still be available to Brazilian users.

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Musk defies Supreme Court judge’s order to block X accounts in Brazil

Elon Musk, who took control of Twitter in October 2022 and subsequently rebranded it as X, reposted the statement, blasting Moraes as an “utter disgrace to justice” and claiming that his orders “would require us to break (in secret) Brazilian, Argentinian, American, and international law.” He explained in a later post that the decision to close the office was made in response to “secret censorship and private information handover demands.”

The Brazilian Supreme Court refused to comment on the matter, stating that it would neither confirm nor deny the authenticity of the document presented by X. Moraes has previously warned the platform against “disobeying judicial orders,” insisting that “social networks are not lands without laws.”