Rio de Janeiro. Social media platform X has appointed a legal representative in Brazil, one of the requirements for it to resume operations in the country, but it will remain suspended until other judicial requirements are met. Brazil’s Supreme Court has given social media platform X, owned by Elon Musk, five days to submit documents validating its new legal representative in the country, a court ruling showed on Saturday.
Lawyers for X said late on Friday that he had appointed a legal representative in Brazil, meeting one of the court’s demands to allow the social media platform to resume operations in the country.
In the new decision, Supreme Court Judge Alexandre de Moraes found that the platform had not duly complied with the demand to restore service and gave X five days to provide business records and other documents proving that it had formally hired Rachel de Oliveira Conceicao as its legal representative in Brazil.
Saturday’s decision also stipulates that X must pay a fine of at least 5 million reais per day ($913,000) for violating the suspension on Thursday, according to the ruling by magistrate Alexandre de Moraes. That day, the social network was once again widely accessible thanks to a technical maneuver that allowed it to bypass the block.
The social network of tycoon Elon Musk was blocked in Brazil by order of the Supreme Court on August 30 for failing to comply with court orders to remove accounts accused of misinformation and withdraw its legal representative in the country. As a result, users of the social network were left offline within hours, after X failed to comply with the court’s demands, including the appointment of a legal representative.
Brazilian law requires foreign companies to have a legal representative to operate in the country. The representative would assume the legal responsibilities of the company at the local level.
X had a legal representative in Brazil until mid-August, when it decided to close its offices and lay off its staff in the country.
The move follows a months-long dispute between Musk and Moraes over the company’s failure to comply with court orders requiring the platform to crack down on the spread of hate speech, which the billionaire denounced as censorship.
Following X’s suspension 20 days ago, Musk accused the judge of being an “evil dictator.” Moraes, for his part, accuses the platform of allowing the spread of information that undermines democracy.
The suspension of the platform was applauded by the left led by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and criticized by the right-wing opposition and former President Jair Bolsonaro.
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– 2024-09-25 22:09:57
