Elon Musk's X (formerly Twitter) abruptly suspended its operations in Brazil on Saturday after it claimed Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes had threatened to arrest its legal representatives for failing to comply with requests to remove content, according to Reuters.
X posted the announcement on Saturday, citing concerns over the “censorship order” issued by Moraes. The company claims that Moraes has also secretly threatened to arrest one of its legal representatives in the country if the company does not comply with the court order. order According to Reuters, it requested that certain content be removed from the platform. Reported. (Related: European governments reprimand official for sending threatening letter to Elon Musk ahead of Trump interview)
X Global Affairs argued that despite multiple appeals to the Federal Supreme Court, Brazilians were not informed of the order and that X's Brazilian staff had no control over the decision to remove content. statementThe statement also stressed that the service itself will remain available to users in Brazil, but the decision to suspend operations of the platform was made to protect the safety of employees.
Last night, Alexandre de Moraes threatened the Brazilian legal representative with arrest if he did not comply with the censorship order. He did this with a secret order, but we are publishing it here to shed light on his actions.
Despite our multiple unsuccessful appeals to the Supreme Court… pic.twitter.com/Pm2ovyydhE
— Global Government Affairs (@GlobalAffairs) August 17, 2024
At the request of “justice” @Alexandre They have no choice but to close their local operations in Brazil, as this would require them (secretly) violating Brazilian, Argentine, U.S. and international law.
He is an utter disgrace to justice. https://t.co/yAvX1TpuRp
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 17, 2024
The platform is being asked to censor content in Brazil, but the censorship requests are asking it to violate Brazilian law. This is not true. https://t.co/ovsIA1QBNg
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 14, 2024
Moraes is investigating “digital militias” that allegedly spread disinformation and hate speech under the administration of former President Jair Bolsonaro, and has previously ordered X to block certain accounts on the platform, news outlets reported. Reported.
Musk publicly criticized Moraes' decision, calling it “unconstitutional” and vowing to reinstate his accounts, which were initially blocked. According to Speaking to The Hill, after facing legal pressure, X reversed course and agreed to abide by the court's ruling.
𝕏 respects the laws of Brazil and all countries in which we operate.
When we are ordered to break the law, we must refuse. https://t.co/vLuFUP9gN8
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 10, 2024
He demanded the suspension of the accounts of people who raised corruption concerns, falsely insisting that the suspensions were for violations of terms of service.
We follow the laws of the country even if we don't agree with them, and this meant violating Brazilian law.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 9, 2024
Musk aired his frustrations at X on Saturday. call Moraes is “a total affront to justice” be criticized The judge reportedly called for “secret censorship and the handover of personal information.” X Global Affairs said Moraes was solely responsible for the closure, accusing him of acting against democratic governance.
Moraes is (apparently) the unelected dictator of Brazil.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 9, 2024
