Musk’s troubles in Brazil grow as Starlink threatened

Brasilia: The Supreme Court confirmed an order to ban Elon Musk’s social network X in Brazil and fine those who use a virtual private network, or VPN, to access it.

All five judges on the top court panel voted in favour of the decision to shut down the platform formerly known as Twitter during a virtual trial on Monday. X can still appeal the decision after the conclusion of the hearing.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.Credit: Bloomberg

The judge found that X allowed postings of hate messages and falsehoods about the country’s electronic voting system that undermined Brazil’s democracy.

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva backed the top court’s judge, Alexandre de Moraes, and his decision to suspend X.

“The Brazilian judiciary may have given an important signal that the world is not obliged to put up with Musk’s far-right ideology just because he is rich,” Lula said in an interview with CNN Brasil released on Monday.

The site has been suspended since a late Friday order by Justice Alexandre de Moraes. The top-court judge is spearheading efforts to combat fake news and hate speech in Brazil, and faces claims of overstepping his bounds by undermining free speech.

Brazilian Supreme Court Chief Justice Alexandre de Moraes.Credit: AP

Moraes issued the order after Musk defied several previous decisions, including refusing to name a legal representative for the social network in Latin America’s biggest economy.

X went dark over the weekend, affecting its 20 million users in Brazil – among the world’s most-online nations.

The suspension, according to Moraes’ order, is in effect until the company agrees to block profiles with anti-democratic or criminal content, pays fines imposed so far and names a legal representative in the country.

Judges on the panel also voted in favour of Moraes’ order, threatening anyone using a VPN to access X with a daily fine of 50,000 reais ($13,000).

X owner Elon Musk was furious at the move by Brazil’s Supreme Court.Credit: AP

The group didn’t discuss the order to block the bank accounts of Musk’s satellite internet provider, Starlink. That decision seeks to force the company to pay for fines imposed on X.

In an appeal filed on Friday, Starlink Brazil Holding Ltda asked the Supreme Court to lift the order, arguing the internet business wasn’t part of the case against X. Justice Cristiano Zanin denied the appeal and kept the financial assets blocked.

Brazil’s telecommunications watchdog, Anatel, confirmed on Monday that Starlink informally told them it wouldn’t comply with the X suspension order to block access to X.

A senior Anatel official said sanctions against Starlink for non-compliance could include the revocation of its licence to operate in Brazil.

Anatel commissioner Artur Coimbra told Reuters that the regulator was inspecting all Brazilian telecom operators to make sure they have shut down Musk’s messaging platform.

Starlink is the only company that has told Anatel it will not comply with the judge’s ruling, Coimbra said.

Bloomberg, Reuters

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