Elon Musk’s Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Last week, Elon Musk’s Platform X agreed to comply with orders from the Supreme Court of Brazil.
Reuters reported on Friday that Brazilian courts imposed a final fine of $1.8 million (around 1.7 million euros) on X.
Experts said the months-long battle will finally end once legal fees are paid.
This is a machine translation of an article from our US colleagues at Business Insider. It was automatically translated and checked by a real editor.
It looks like Elon Musk’s battle with the Supreme Court of Brazil over content moderation concerns on X may finally be coming to an end. This comes a week after the social media platform agreed to comply with Brazilian court orders.
All that remains is the question of outstanding invoices.
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Musk has to pay fines
Reuters reported on Friday that the Brazilian court has fined X a final fine of $1.8 million (around 1.7 million euros). In addition to existing fines of $3.4 million (approximately 3.2 million euros) – for a brief period in which access to X was temporarily made available again to Brazilian users despite being banned in the country.
The outstanding fines of $5.2 million (4.9 million euros) must be paid before access to the site can be fully restored across the country. Representatives for X did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.
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Expert opinions on agreement
Two international business law experts told Business Insider that settling the outstanding fines could finally end the battle over court orders that Musk described as censorship.
The exchange between Musk and Brazilian Chief Justice Alexandre de Moraes became heated as it dragged on for much of this year. Musk repeatedly accused de Moraes of personal insults and refused to follow orders to remove accounts on the platform that de Moraes said were systematically spreading misinformation in support of deposed far-right former President Jair Bolsonaro.
As a result, de Moraes banned X from operating in Brazil, threatened to arrest its legal representative in the country and ordered the seizure of $3 million (around €2.8 million) from frozen financial accounts of -Media platform to settle.
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Final demands on Musk
With the latest fine of $1.8 million (1.7 million euros), de Moraes is making “a final demand on Elon Musk,” Sérgio Botinha, an international business lawyer in Brazil, told Business Insider.
“He’s making Elon Musk dance now,” Botinha said. “And he says, ‘Well, you resisted, but you have now complied with the orders. You have a legal representative. But there are these details that you still have to take care of, and if you do that – pay the fines and waive your appeals – I will release X in Brazil.’”
Botinha said it was impossible to say whether de Moraes was particularly tough on Musk because the billionaire attacked him personally. The judge deliberately caused controversy with his handling of Musk’s challenges – and he is unlikely to back down now.
If Musk continued to challenge de Moraes, it would be “illogical,” Botinha added.
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End of the conflict in sight
Greg Barnett, an American lawyer who helps American clients resolve business and legal problems in Brazil, agreed that Musk’s saga of challenging de Moraes is likely over.
“I say this because X has rehired the law firm they previously had, removed to be able to operate,” Barnett said.
The decision to give in now, after months of deliberate refusal, is likely no coincidence, Barnett added.
“Elections are coming up in Brazil soon,” Barnett noted. “And I can only imagine that X or Musk wants to reach users in Brazil, so there is an additional incentive to do it now.”
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