Alexandre de Moraes, Minister of the Brazilian Supreme Federal Court (STF) Threatened The Brazilian government announced on Wednesday that it would block access to X in Brazil if the social media platform does not appoint a legal representative in Brazil within 24 hours.
De Moraes, the US Supreme Court justice, issued a subpoena to X and its owner Elon Musk on Wednesday night and posted it on the site, a move the STF itself made. Reportedly It is the first time that Brazil's Supreme Court has issued a subpoena on social media, and has been described as “unprecedented.”
Global Affairs Elon Musk The Intimacy Command pic.twitter.com/gQUwNCy1Cr
— STF (@STF_oficial) August 28, 2024
The order requires that Company X must notify the STF within 24 hours of the “name and qualifications” of the platform's new legal representative in Brazil, or “Company X's activities will be immediately suspended.”
The court order, digitally signed by De Moraes, Announced X closed its Brazilian office. According to X's global government relations team, the decision was in response to De Moraes threatening to arrest the platform's Brazilian legal team if they did not comply with the censorship order.
Despite our multiple appeals to the Supreme Court going unheard, the Brazilian public not being informed of these orders, and our Brazilian staff having no responsibility or control over whether content is blocked on our platform, Moraes has chosen to intimidate our Brazilian staff instead of respecting the law and due process.
“As a result, we have decided to close our operations in Brazil with immediate effect to ensure the safety of our staff,” the message continued. “X services will remain available to the Brazilian people. We are deeply saddened to have been forced into this decision, for which only Mr. Alexandre de Moraes is responsible.”
Musk responded by posting a photo of De Moraes that he had Photoshopped to look like the villain from the film “Mission: Impossible.” Star Wars Franchise. Soon after, Musk announced another postsaid De Moraes “repeatedly broke the laws he swore to uphold.”
Grok: “Generate an image of a child born between Voldemort and the Dark Lord of the Sith, who became a judge in Brazil.”
That's amazing! pic.twitter.com/aTdVRg9jrw
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 29, 2024
Wednesday's STF court order marks the latest development in the ongoing feud between de Moraes, a self-described “anti-fake news” campaigner, and Musk, who claims he will refuse to comply with some of de Moraes' censorship orders throughout 2024.
Judge de Moraes has ordered numerous censorship measures over the past few years against Brazilian citizens, journalists, comedians and politicians who support former President Jair Bolsonaro. inquiry against individuals and organizations that are allegedly spreading “fake news” another The investigation aims to investigate so-called “anti-democratic digital militias” in Brazil that spread “fake news” and “threaten democracy.”
His censorship ruling forced X and other social media platforms such as YouTube, Facebook and Instagram to restrict access to certain accounts in Brazilian territory, preventing Brazilian users from interacting with those accounts or accessing their content.
De Moraes also ordered police raids on individuals accused of spreading “fake news” through two public investigations. Bolsonaro and member Some of his family members were targeted in police raids.
April, De Moraes Open Facebook launched an investigation into Musk after he announced he would not comply with a de Moraes court order requiring the company to censor a series of accounts and impose fines of approximately $19,700 per day for each account it failed to censor.
Musk responded: call The impeachment of De Moraes and Condemn During Brazil's 2022 presidential election campaign, de Moraes was accused of rigging the 2022 Brazilian presidential election, in which convicted socialist Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva narrowly defeated incumbent Bolsonaro. Forced Bolsonaro has campaigned to refrain from calling Lula a “thief” or a “criminal” in reference to his multiple convictions on corruption charges. Fired Bolsonaro's formal election challenge Litigation It also fined the former president's party $4.27 million for “malicious litigation.”
X finally Collapsed In response to De Moraes' April request for censorship, the judge continued request Comply with new censorship measures.
In August, just before X announced it was closing its Brazilian office, social media platform Announced The company received a court order from De Moraes dated July 23, ordering the platform to censor the new batch of accounts within five days. X said the order affects not only Brazilians but also “residents of the United States and Argentina.”
August 14, X Published A copy of another STF court order signed by De Moraes calling for the censorship of another group of Brazilian users, including pastors and the wives of current and former members of Congress.
“I believe that the Brazilian people should know what is expected of us,” X said at the time.
a Report It was published in a left-leaning Brazilian newspaper in mid-August. Sao Paulo State Based on text message logs and other media reviewed by the newspaper, the paper said Mr. De Moraes was suspected of ordering the informal preparation of a report by Brazil's electoral tribunal and later using it to support his own rulings against Mr. Bolsonaro's supporters.
The left-leaning newspaper reported that it found at least “24” fraudulently commissioned reports, some of which were ultimately used by de Moraes to support “criminal measures” against Bolsonaro supporters, such as revoking passports, blocking social media accounts, and ordering them to testify before Brazil's federal police.
De Moraes denied any wrongdoing as reported and maintained that all investigations carried out under the “fake news” and “digital militia” investigations were “formal, routine and properly documented” with the knowledge and “full participation” of the attorney general's office.
Christian K. Caruso is a Venezuelan author who chronicles life under socialism. You can follow him on X. here.
