Politics Dispute with Musk: judge orders blocking of X in Brazil

A judge in Brazil has ordered the blocking of Elon Musk's online platform X following a months-long dispute with the tech billionaire.

The National Telecommunications Agency should implement the order within 24 hours, ordered Judge Alexandre de Moraes of the Supreme Federal Court. He accuses the Twitter successor service X of taking insufficient action against the spread of hate speech and fake news. Musk, for his part, refers to freedom of speech and described the judge as an "evil dictator".

The conflict escalated in the end. The judge demanded that X block the accounts of right-wing activists who spread conspiracy theories and false information. Musk described the demand as unlawful, the online platform did not comply with the request - and did not pay the fine imposed.

Blocking after ultimatum expired

Musk then had the office in Brazil closed in mid-August on the grounds that he feared the former representative would be arrested. Moraes gave X an ultimatum this week: either a legal representative would be appointed within 24 hours - or the platform would be closed. Musk let the deadline pass.

Instead, he stirred up trouble against Moraes on X, where he has 196 million followers. Among other things, Musk published a supposedly AI-generated image showing a man behind bars who looks like the judge. One day this will be reality, "mark my words", he warned Moraes.

Musk is the richest person in the world, mainly thanks to his stake in the electric car manufacturer Tesla, which he runs. The financial service Bloomberg currently estimates his fortune at 239 billion US dollars.

But no penalty for users with VPN

The judge also initially ruled on Friday that users who circumvent the block with technical solutions such as VPN services could face a fine of 50,000 Brazilian reals (around 8,000 euros) per day. This was withdrawn a few hours later following criticism. VPN tunnels can make it look as if a user is in another country. They are a common means of circumventing online blocks.

The initial instruction to Google and Apple to remove the X app from their download stores within five days and block its use was also lifted. This was to avoid "inconvenience for other companies", Moraes explained.

Musk refers to freedom of speech

Musk, who belongs to the American right and is a vocal supporter of former President Donald Trump, always presents himself as a defender of freedom of speech. He accuses the judge of censorship. "Alexandre de Moraes is an evil dictator masquerading as a judge," wrote Musk on X. At the same time, X responded to government demands to block some accounts and content under his direction, for example in India.

X was also recently used in Brazil to mobilize for anti-democratic actions. So-called digital militias associated with right-wing ex-president Jair Bolsonaro spread fake news and hate speech on social networks.

Some of the accounts that Moraes demanded X block questioned the legitimacy of Bolsonaro's election defeat and showed sympathy for his supporters, who had stormed the parliament building and the Supreme Court at the time.

Revenue from abroad increasingly important for X

As advertising revenues in the home market of the USA are falling following the platform's shift to the right under Musk, foreign markets such as Brazil, with a population of more than 200 million, have become more important for X's finances. According to media reports, X has around 20 million users in the Latin American country.