Brazil’s Supreme Court has imposed a full ban on X (formerly Twitter) after Elon Musk failed to appoint a legal representative in the country. The court, led by Justice Alexandre de Moraes, has announced that individuals or companies using VPNs to access X will face daily fines of 50,000 reais (approximately $9,000), escalating the ongoing feud between Musk and the Brazilian judiciary.
Moraes had previously given Musk 24 hours to comply with the order, warning that X would be suspended otherwise. The deadline passed without compliance, prompting the immediate suspension of the platform. According to Statista, the average annual salary in Brazil was 35,748 reais in 2023 (around $6,370), highlighting the severity of the fines.
X anticipated the shutdown, citing its refusal to follow what it described as “illegal orders” from Moraes, which included demands for censorship and user account information that could impact users in Brazil, the United States, and Argentina. The platform has also accused the judge of overstepping his authority by freezing the accounts of SpaceX’s Starlink in Brazil.
This conflict is the latest in a series of legal battles between X and Brazilian authorities, where the platform has previously complied with orders to shut down accounts associated with former President Jair Bolsonaro and other right-wing figures accused of undermining democracy.
