RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — A zealous Brazilian Supreme Court justice has added Elon Musk to the list of his ongoing investigation into the spread of fake news and opened a separate investigation into a U.S. executive on charges of obstruction.
In his ruling, Judge Alexandre de Moraes wrote that Mr. Musk launched a public “disinformation campaign” about the Supreme Court’s actions on Saturday and that he continued it the next day, most notably on his social media. It was pointed out that the comment was that media company X would stop complying. A court order to block certain accounts.
Brazil’s former president charged with falsifying coronavirus vaccination data
Elon Musk attended an event in London on November 2, 2023. A zealous Brazilian Supreme Court judge added Mr. Musk to the subject of an ongoing investigation into the spread of fake news and launched another investigation late Sunday, April 7, 2024. He will be indicted by the Enforcement Department on suspicion of obstruction of business. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX who took over Twitter at the end of 2022, accused de Moraes of suppressing free speech and violating Brazil’s constitution, saying users can use a VPN to It was pointed out in X that there is a possibility that it will try to avoid the closure of media platforms. virtual private network.
According to the ruling, Musk was investigated for intentionally using X to commit crimes as part of an investigation into a network of people known as digital militias who allegedly spread defamatory fake news and threats against Supreme Court justices. will be done. The new investigation will look into whether Musk was involved in obstruction, criminal organization or incitement.
“Brazil’s flagrant acts of obstruction of justice, incitement of crime, public threats to disobey court orders, and lack of further cooperation from the platform demonstrate a disregard for Brazil’s sovereignty,” de Moraes said on Sunday. It is,” he wrote.
X’s news office had not responded to a request for comment from The Associated Press, and Musk had not commented publicly as of Monday morning, other than a brief post about X.
Brazil’s political right has long characterized Mr. de Moraes as going beyond the limits of strangling free speech and committing political persecution. The digital militia investigation has jailed members of former President Jair Bolsonaro’s circle and raided the homes of his supporters. Bolsonaro himself was the subject of an investigation in 2021.
In March 2022, a judge ruled that the messaging app Telegram had to comply with requests from Brazilian authorities, including a police request to provide information related to blogger Alain dos Santos, who was accused of blocking and spreading his profile. It ordered a nationwide shutdown after the platform repeatedly ignored them. Falsehood. Dos Santos’ account is one of his blocked on Brazilian X. Less than 48 hours after issuing the 2022 order, de Moraes said Telegram had complied and was allowed to resume operations.
De Moraes’ defenders said his decision, while unusual, was legally sound and necessary to purge social media of fake news and end the threat to Brazil’s democracy. This was infamously highlighted by the uprising-like riots in the Brazilian capital on January 8, 2023. January 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.
Supreme Court Chief Justice Luis Roberto Barroso said in a statement Monday that “judicial decisions may be subject to appeal, but willful non-compliance can never be recognized.”
Musk, a self-proclaimed free speech absolutist, said on Saturday that the platform would lift all restrictions on blocked accounts on X, a move that would dry up revenue in Brazil and force the company to close its local offices. predicted that there was a high possibility that
“But principles are more important than profits,” he wrote.
Brazil is an important market for social media companies. According to market research group Emarketer, around 40 million Brazilians, about 18% of the population, visit X at least once a month.
Musk then told Brazilian users to download a VPN to maintain access even if Company X was shut down, accusing de Moraes of violating Brazilian law. I wrote that I would make all my demands public.
“These are the toughest demands of any country on earth!” he later wrote.
Brazil’s constitution was drafted after the 1964-1985 military dictatorship and includes a long list of ambitious goals and prohibitions against specific crimes such as racism and, more recently, homophobia. However, freedom of speech is not absolute.
As of Monday morning, Mr. Musk had not made Mr. de Moraes’ request public, prominent blocked accounts were still made public, and X had not yet acted on Mr. Musk’s previous promise. It is shown that.
Mr. Moraes’ ruling means that each blocked account that Mr. He warned them not to engage in such acts.
Rio de Janeiro director Carlos Afonso said: “Including Elon Musk in a digital militia investigation is one thing, but stopping X is another. This gives Moraes the nod, even amid Elon Musk’s provocations. He said he didn’t feel lethargic.” The Institute for Technology and Society, a think tank based in Washington, D.C., said this by phone from Washington. “This is a warning shot not to cross the line.”
Mr. Afonso, a professor of civil rights at Rio de Janeiro State University, was attending a symposium on Brazil’s business environment and law at Georgetown Law School on Monday, and was wondering how Mr. Moraes’ decision will affect Mr. Musk and Mr. “It’s becoming a hot topic,” he said. town. ” Mr. Afonso also wondered what the brewing dispute would mean for Mr. Musk’s Starlink satellites, which provide internet service to remote parts of Brazil such as the Amazon rainforest and the Pantanal wetlands.
Bolsonaro, who presented Musk with the Order of Honor during his visit to Brazil in 2022, was one of those who encouraged Musk to keep his promise to release the documents, and how the Supreme Electoral Court was under pressure to do so. He encouraged Musk to release the documents, saying he would reveal whether he was pressured to interfere in the 2022 election. lost. Bolsonaro often makes such claims without any evidence.
“Today our freedoms are primarily in his hands,” Bolsonaro said of Musk in a live social media broadcast Sunday night. “The actions he’s taking, the things he’s saying, and he’s said he’s going to put forward the idea of fighting for freedom for our country without being intimidated. That’s a good thing.”
A congressman in charge of a bill aimed at establishing rules for social media platforms told X that the episode underscores the urgency of bringing the proposal to a vote. It was approved by the Senate in 2020. On Saturday night, Brazil’s attorney general had already expressed support for the regulation.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
“We cannot live in a society where expatriate billionaires control social networks, violate the rule of law, disobey court orders and threaten authorities. is non-negotiable,” Jorge said. Messias wrote about X.
And President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s Minister of Institutional Affairs, Alexandre Padilla, told Monday He said he would cooperate.
