Elon Musk's X gives up fight in Brazil and begins to comply with judge's demands

Elon Musk appears to be admitting defeat in his battle with Brazil's Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, as social media platform X has begun complying with the judge's demands to get the service approved in the country.

X had previously refused to block dozens of accounts accused of spreading misinformation. Internet service providers have been blocking X since early September on government orders, and De Moraes seized $2 million from a Starlink bank account and $1.3 million from an X account to collect fines imposed on X.

X claims the orders violate Brazil's own laws. “Unlike other social media and technology platforms, we will not comply with illegal orders in secret. To our users in Brazil and around the world, X remains committed to protecting your freedom of expression,” the company said in late August.

But in a reversal detailed in a court filing Friday night, “X's lawyers said the company had done exactly what Mr. Musk had promised not to do: close accounts that a Brazilian judge had ordered deleted because the judge said they threatened Brazilian democracy,” the New York Times reported. “X also complied with the judge's other demands, including paying fines and appointing a new official representative in the country, the lawyers said.” (X said last month its previous legal representative in Brazil resigned after de Moraes threatened her with prison.)

X must demonstrate compliance

According to Reuters, “it was not immediately clear which accounts X had to block because the investigation is confidential.” However, it was reported that many of the accounts belonged to supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro, who was accused of inciting the January 8, 2023, attack on Brazil's parliament after his election defeat. Some of the accounts reportedly belonged to users accused of threatening federal police officers involved in an investigation into Bolsonaro.

De Moraes confirmed X's reversal in an order issued Saturday, saying X would have to provide documents proving its compliance before it could be allowed back in. X had an estimated 22 million users in Brazil before the ban. Bluesky and Meta's Threads gained users in the country after X was blocked by ISPs.

X was briefly accessible in Brazil last week after the company began rerouting traffic through Cloudflare. However, Cloudflare later made changes that allowed ISPs to resume their blocking of X without affecting other websites using Cloudflare. While X said it was merely “an unintended and temporary restoration of service to Brazilian users,” de Moraes announced a new daily fine of more than $900,000 for failing to comply with the order suspending X's operations in Brazil.