North News
Chandigarh, August 31
The Brazilian Supreme Court ordered the suspension of X, formerly known as Twitter, in the country after the social media platform failed to meet a deadline to appoint a legal representative. On Friday afternoon, Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who has been in a dispute with X’s owner, Elon Musk, since April, ordered the “immediate, complete, and total suspension of X’s operations” in Brazil until all court orders are fulfilled, fines are paid, and a new legal representative is appointed, according to news outlet The Guardian.
Brazil’s National Telecommunications Agency was given 24 hours to enforce the decision. The agency must then inform over 20,000 broadband internet providers in the country, each required to block X. The agency’s president, Carlos Manuel Baigorri, stated in an interview with Globonews that the order had already been passed to internet providers and expected that the block would be fully implemented by the weekend, the news outlet said.
Initially, Justice Moraes summoned Apple and Google to “implement technological barriers to prevent the use of the X app” on iOS and Android systems and to block VPN applications. However, later that evening, the judge removed the directive for Apple and Google, pending statements from X and Musk, to avoid unnecessary disruptions to third-party companies.
The ruling imposes a daily fine of R$50,000 (£6,800) on individuals and companies attempting to access X via VPN. The deadline for X to appoint a new legal representative expired at 8:07 pm local time on Thursday, with the social network announcing an hour later that it would not comply with the order. Musk responded by accusing Brazil of “shutting down the #1 source of truth” and described the government as an “oppressive regime” afraid of people learning the truth, according to The Guardian.
The conflict originated in April when Moraes ordered the suspension of several accounts for allegedly spreading disinformation, a move Musk criticized as censorship. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva commented on the situation, emphasizing that wealth does not grant immunity from legal responsibilities. Since August 17, X has been without a legal representative in Brazil after Musk announced the immediate shutdown of operations in the country, citing “censorship orders” from Moraes. Despite this, the service continued to be available in Brazil.
