Bandung, IndoensiaSentinel.com — X was banned in Brazil after a judge ordered the suspension due to “X” owner, Elon Musk, refusing to comply with court orders to suspend certain accounts. The platform refused to comply with court orders said to be allowing the accounts to spread information that violated Brazilian law.
Alexandre de Moraes, Brazilian Supreme Court Justice, ordered the National Telecommunications Agency (Anatel) to immediately limit access to X within 24 hours. The court also orders the removal of “X” from Apple and Google mobile app stores within five days.
Not only that, people who are trying to access the apps via virtual private network (VPN), will get daily fines of $50,000 Brazilian real (USD $9.000), as reported by Poder360.
The feud between Musk and Judge Moraes has been going on for months. It began when the Brazilian judge opened an investigation into X in April after Musk said he had reactivated accounts that he had ordered to be blocked. Many of the accounts de Moraes ordered X to block are linked to supporters of the right-wing former President Jair Bolsonaro as New York Times stated.
“Free speech is the bedrock of democracy, and an unelected pseudo-judge in Brazil is destroying it for political purposes,” Elon Musk said in a statement on X.
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After X stopped complying to resolve this issue, Brazil’s Supreme Court notified X on Wednesday that the platform will be banned if X doesn’t appoint a new legal representative within 24 hours. The court also threatened the company’s legal representative with arrest. In response to that, Elon Musk decided to close X office in Brazil earlier this month.
It is not the first time Brazilian authorities have blocked an online service for ignoring court orders, like in 2022, when Justice Moraes blocked the messaging app Telegram for a weekend. Yet such blocks have usually lasted just days before a company reversed course and complied.
(Raidi/Agung)
