Brazil Supreme Court upholds judge’s decision to suspend Elon Musk’s X

A Brazilian Supreme Court panel has upheld a decision from one of its justices to suspend operations of social media platform X in the country.

In a unanimous decision on Sept. 2, a panel of five Supreme Court justices upheld Justice Alexandre de Moraes’ Aug. 30 ruling suspending X in Brazil. Moraes’ decision followed X owner Elon Musk’s refusal to name a legal representative for the firm’s operations in Brazil. 

In the months before Moraes’ decision, Musk heavily criticized the Supreme Court judge on X, claiming he was “evil” and a “dictator” for his alleged “illegal political censorship” of the social media platform. It’s unclear how the X owner may respond to the court ruling now that four other justices agreed with Moraes’ ruling.

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Moraes had been investigating X for allegedly allowing and promoting misinformation related to former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro. Since Musk’s takeover of the company — then Twitter — in October 2022, many companies have pulled advertising after reports of pro-Nazi content appearing alongside their ads. 

According to Moraes’ decision, X will remain suspended in Brazil until the company pays outstanding fines totaling more than $3 million as of Aug. 30. Brazilian residents and companies using virtual private networks (VPNs) to access the site could also face fines of up to 50,000 reais — roughly $8,900.

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This is a developing story, and further information will be added as it becomes available.