In the dispute over the future of the social media platform X, the company led by Elon Musk is apparently taking a step towards the Brazilian judiciary: The company has appointed a new legal representative in Brazil and submitted the name to the Supreme Court. This would fulfill one of the demands of the Brazilian Supreme Court, which could grant X permission to operate in the country again.
Under Brazilian law, foreign companies must appoint a representative to operate in Brazil. This representative assumes legal responsibility for the company on site. X had such a representative in Brazil until mid-August, but then the company decided to close its offices in the country. One reason may have been conflicts between Elon Musk and Judge Alexandre de Moraes.
Government opponents accuse judges of censorship
After the company’s withdrawal, the Brazilian Supreme Court ordered mobile and internet providers to block X in Brazil at the end of August. Access was shut down within a few hours. De Moraes explained the decision by saying that owner Musk had “demonstrated his total disregard for Brazilian sovereignty and especially for the judiciary.”
While Judge de Moraes saw the blocking as a measure against disinformation and hate speech, opponents of the left-wing Brazilian government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva spoke of censorship and abuse of power. Even before the blocking, de Moraes had blocked accounts on the platform that were suspected of spreading disinformation. These included primarily profiles of supporters of the right-wing extremist ex-president Jair Bolsonaro.
Suddenly X worked again for a short time
X’s decision is likely to come as a surprise to many – only a few days ago the conflict between the platform and the Brazilian judiciary escalated further. On Wednesday, the social network was working again, completely unexpectedly for some users. De Moraes accused the online service of using technical tricks to circumvent his order and threatened a fine of five million reais a day (around 800,000 euros) if the company continued to disregard the court order.
© Lea Dohle
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A short time later, X was offline again. The platform explained that the temporary restoration of access was due to a change in network provider. It also said that the company was continuing to work with the Brazilian government to be available in Brazil “very soon again”.
Blocking of X in Brazil
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