Hedge fund billionaire Bill Ackman has joined critics of a court order to suspend Elon Musk’s X in Brazil, saying The ruling will likely scare away investors and hurt the country.
On Friday, Supreme Court Judge Alexandre de Moraes ordered Internet service providers in Brazil to block their users from accessing Xafter the social media company refused to appoint a legal representative in the country to respond to requests to remove accounts allegedly involved in spreading political disinformation.
Moraes also ordered the freezing of funds held by another of Musk’s companies, Starlink, to serve as collateral for fines imposed on X for failing to comply with court decisions.
“The illegal closure of X and the freezing of accounts in Starlink put Brazil in a Fast track to becoming an uninvestable market“China committed similar acts that led to capital flight and collapsed valuations. The same will happen to Brazil unless it quickly retracts these illegal acts.”
Musk’s X stops operating in Brazil after Supreme Court ruling
During the weekend, Most of Brazil’s largest Internet providers complied with the order, prompting users in the country to migrate to some of X’s competitors.. Social network Bluesky, founded by Jack Dorsey after selling Twitter to Musk, reported one million new users in the three days ending Saturday and published a series of posts in Portuguese to welcome Brazilians who signed up for the service.
The Supreme Court’s plenary session will seek to reconvene on Monday to discuss the ban and is likely to back Moraes’ decision, local website G1 reported, citing an unnamed judge. In an interview with Folha newspaper, Supreme Court President Luis Roberto Barroso appeared to support the decision, saying without mentioning X in particular that A company without legal representation in the country cannot be authorized to operate.
