Musk’s X braces for Brazil shutdown amid feud over free speech

An ongoing feud between a Brazilian Supreme Court justice and Elon Musk left social media platform X on the brink of being shut down in the country, while satellite internet provider Starlink pushed to unblock its financial accounts in Brazil.

X was still working normally in Brazil on Friday, but the platform said late on Thursday that it expected Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes to order a shutdown “soon,” after a court-imposed deadline expired for the company to identify a legal representative in Brazil.

Earlier this year, the judge ordered X to block certain accounts implicated in probes of so-called digital militias accused of spreading distorted news and hate.

Musk, denouncing the order as censorship, responded by closing the platform’s offices in Brazil. X, formerly known as Twitter, said at the time that its services would still be available in Brazil.

Amid the underlying feud over X, Brazil’s Supreme Court also blocked the local bank accounts of the Starlink satellite internet firm, which is 40% owned by Musk, leading the company on Friday to ask the court to suspend that decision.

In the appeal, seen by Reuters, Starlink claims it does not have “any interference” on X and that it has not failed to comply with any legal order directed at it. The account block was issued in part due to a dispute over unpaid fines that X was ordered to pay by Brazil’s top court.

The Starlink appeal documents show that Moraes had asked for the blocking of resources from the satellite broadband company’s bank accounts and financial assets, properties, vessels and aircraft in Brazil to cover the fines owed by X.

Brazil’s top court was able to freeze around 2 million reais ($354,226.81) from X’s accounts in Brazil so far, according to Starlink’s appeal. Local newspaper Folha has reported the fines total at least 20 million reais ($3.6 million), but Reuters was not able to confirm the amount.

Musk has said on X that Starlink – which offers internet connections to remote places – would continue to serve Brazilians, including the country’s military, for free “until this matter is resolved.”

The country’s army had said in a document sent to the lower house of Congress in June that an interruption of Starlink’s services would negatively affect its operations and could harm the strategic employment of specialized troops.

Calls for accountability

Asked about Musk’s spat with Justice Moraes, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Friday told a local radio station that “each and every citizen from any part of the world that has an investment in Brazil is subject to the Brazilian constitution and Brazilian laws.”

“Just because a guy has a lot of money doesn’t mean he can disrespect (the law),” the leftist leader added. Musk on Thursday had criticized Lula as Moraes’ “lapdog” in a post on X in which the billionaire also called Moraes a “dictator.”

The judge, at a separate event on Friday, reiterated his view that social media needs regulation to contain “hate speech.” He did not provide any details about when he might issue an order blocking X.

“Those who violate democracy, who violate fundamental human rights, whether in person or through social media, must be held accountable,” Moraes said.

Under Brazilian laws governing the internet, social media platforms are required to have a locally based representative.

To shut down X’s operations in Brazil, Moraes would have to order telecommunication companies to stop carrying X traffic. Users, however, would still be able to dodge the blockage by using virtual private networks, or VPNs.

The US Embassy in Brasilia said in a statement it is “closely monitoring” the situation between Brazil’s Supreme Court and X, adding that the United States values “freedom of speech as a cornerstone of a healthy democracy” and that it “does not comment on local court decisions or legal disputes.”

Musk, in an X post on Friday, interpreted the US Embassy’s remarks as a demonstration of support for him, saying the comments were “appreciated.”