Elon Musk's X Announces Suspension Of Brazil Operations

Social media platform X, owned by Elon Musk, recently made an announcement that it would close its operations in Brazil. The platform claimed that Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes threatened to arrest its legal representative in Brazil if they did not comply with orders. Meanwhile, the platform mentioned that the service would remain available to users in Brazil.

"The responsibility lies solely with Alexandre de Moraes. His actions are incompatible with democratic government. The people of Brazil have a choice to make - democracy, or Alexandre de Moraes," said the company in a post. Elon Musk has earlier criticized Alexandre de Moraes dozens of times, saying the judge’s orders are censorship and break Brazilian law.

Last night, Alexandre de Moraes threatened our legal representative in Brazil with arrest if we do not comply with his censorship orders. He did so in a secret order, which we share here to expose his actions.

Despite our numerous appeals to the Supreme Court not being heard,… pic.twitter.com/Pm2ovyydhE

— Global Government Affairs (@GlobalAffairs) August 17, 2024

According to the Al Jazeera report, Moraes had earlier ordered X to block certain accounts accused of spreading false news and hate messages. The top court judge had also reportedly initiated an inquiry earlier this year into the billionaire after Elon Musk said he would reactivate accounts on X that the judge had ordered blocked. Meanwhile, Brazil’s Supreme Court has not responded to the controversy.