X Shuts Down Brazil Office Amid Elon Musk’s Censorship Dispute with Judge

X’s office in Brazil will close immediately due to a growing public feud between Elon Musk and Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes.

Musk’s team announced on Saturday that the closure followed legal threats directed at their representative in Brazil. According to a post from X’s Global Government Affairs office, they stated, “Last night, Alexandre de Moraes threatened our legal representative in Brazil with arrest if we do not comply with his censorship orders.” The team included screenshots of a legal order outlining the threats, which included a fine of 20,000 reais (approximately $3,653) per day and the potential arrest of Rachel Nova Conceicao, an X representative in Brazil, should they fail to comply with de Moraes’s demands.

De Moraes has targeted content connected to what he describes as “digital militias,” arguing that they have been instrumental in spreading misinformation and hate speech, particularly against former President Jair Bolsonaro.

While Brazil’s constitution does protect freedom of speech, it also allows for greater governmental control when it comes to banning certain speech, including hate speech, compared to the United States. Continuing in their statement, X’s Global Government Affairs office expressed their frustration at being unheard by the Supreme Court, claiming that the Brazilian public remains uninformed about these orders and that their local staff are neither responsible for nor in control of the content moderation decisions.

Musk and de Moraes have been embroiled in a public disagreement regarding content removal requests for several months. De Moraes has pressured X to restrict accounts purportedly spreading harmful information and threats against the Supreme Court during Bolsonaro’s presidency. He has previously threatened the platform with significant daily fines for any reinstated accounts that were blocked.

X initially complied with some of Brazil’s legal requests, blocking content in a manner similar to the platform’s dealings with Turkey. However, Musk later decided to lift these restrictions, despite ongoing threats from de Moraes regarding further legal action. This prompted de Moraes to investigate Musk personally in April. Musk stated at that time that prioritizing principles over profit could mean losing revenue in Brazil and possibly shutting down the office there.

In a post shared on Saturday, Musk reflected on the challenging decision to close X’s Brazil office: “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.”

As of now, the platform remains accessible to users in Brazil. However, representatives from X and The National High Court of Brazil did not provide immediate comments when approached for information.

Source: Business Insider