Brazil began blocking Elon Musk’s social media platform X early Saturday, making it largely inaccessible both online and via its mobile app after the company failed to comply with a court order.
X, got suspended by country’s telecommunications regulator due to a legal dispute with a Supreme Court justice. The suspension was triggered after X failed to comply with court orders related to hate speech regulations and the appointment of a local representative.
Late on Friday afternoon, Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who has been in a dispute with X’s owner, Elon Musk, since April, ordered the “immediate and total suspension” of X’s operations in Brazil. The suspension will remain in effect “until all court orders are fulfilled, fines are paid, and a new legal representative for the company is appointed in the country.”
Musk has argued that Moraes is attempting to impose unjustified censorship, while the judge maintains that social media platforms must have regulations to curb hate speech.
“They’re shutting down the #1 source of truth in Brazil,” Musk posted on X on Friday.
To enforce the block, Brazil’s telecommunications regulator, Anatel, instructed internet service providers to cut off user access to X. By midnight local time on Saturday, major operators had begun implementing the suspension.
Justice de Moraes had warned Musk on Wednesday night that X could be blocked in Brazil if the company did not comply with the order to designate a representative, giving a 24-hour deadline. The platform has been without a legal representative in the country since earlier this month.
“Elon Musk has shown a complete disregard for Brazilian sovereignty and, in particular, for the judiciary, positioning himself as a supranational entity immune to the laws of any country,” de Moraes wrote in his decision.
To effectively shut down X in Brazil, telecommunications companies will need to block the platform’s traffic and prevent users from bypassing the restrictions by using virtual private networks (VPNs). Moraes ordered fines of up to 50,000 reais ($9,000) per day for those who continue to access X via VPNs.
The suspension could have significant financial implications for X, which relies heavily on Brazilian advertising revenue.
The ongoing feud between Musk and the Brazilian government has also affected other Musk-owned companies. Starlink, a satellite internet provider, had its bank accounts frozen earlier this week.
Initially, tech giants Apple and Google’s parent company, Alphabet, were instructed to remove X from their app stores and implement anti-VPN measures to make it more challenging for users to access the app on iOS and Android devices. However, Moraes later rescinded that part of the order, stating it was unnecessary.
