Brazil: Lula supports suspension of operations of social network X

Brasilia. A panel of Brazil’s Supreme Court on Monday unanimously voted to uphold the suspension of social media giant X in the country for defying a court order, blocking access to more than 20 million users.

The decision was supported by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who told a television station that The Brazilian judiciary may have given an important signal that the world is not obliged to put up with Musk’s far-right ideology just because he is rich..

Judges Flavio Dino, Cristiano Zanin, Carmen Lucia and Luiz Fux supported Judge Alexandre de Moraes, who last week ruled that X should be suspended in Brazil because she failed to appoint a local legal representative, as required by law and a previous court order setting a deadline for compliance.

The magnate Elon Musk responded Exactly to a publication that described the suspension as an attack on freedom of expression and the rights of Brazilians.

Musk also warned that he would seek the seizure of Brazilian state assets if the government does not release the X and Starlink assets.

Meanwhile, Judge Flavio Dino wrote: It is not possible for a company to operate in the territory of a country and try to impose its vision on which rules should be valid or applied..

Brazil’s telecoms regulator Anatel confirmed to Reuters that Starlink – also owned by Musk – will not comply with the court order to block X.

Given Starlink’s refusal, it will be up to Anatel to monitor whether it will in fact not comply with the court orders and, eventually, initiate a process against this company, which would be added to the process against X.Bloomberg reported.

Anatel president Carlos Baigorri told Globonews that possible sanctions against Starlink They are those provided for in the General Telecommunications Law, starting with a warning, a fine and then the cancellation of the concession..

Starlink is a satellite Internet provider with about 225 thousand users in Brazil.

X was disconnected in Brazil early Saturday morning, although some people continued to access it through VPNs and other means such as Starlink. For these people or companies, Judge De Moraes set a daily fine of 50 thousand reais (8,900 dollars).

Brazil is the sixth largest X market in the world.