Brazil: X’s suspension confirmed by five Supreme Court judges

Hibapress

A panel of five judges of Brazil’s Supreme Court voted unanimously Monday to support Magistrate Alexandre de Moraes’ decision to suspend social media giant X in the country for failing to comply with local standards.

Judges Flavio Dino, Cristiano Zanin, Carmen Lucia and Luiz Fux sided with Moraes, a leading figure in the fight against disinformation, with some specifying that the suspension could be lifted if the platform complied with previous court rulings.

X was suspended in Brazil, one of its largest markets, following a decision by Moraes after the rejection of the ultimatum given to its owner Elon Musk to appoint a legal representative in the country.

The move comes just over a month before municipal elections in the country, amid an ultra-polarized landscape between current left-wing president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and his right-wing predecessor Jair Bolsonaro.

In the midst of this standoff over X, which has 22 million users in Brazil, the court had also blocked the local bank accounts of the satellite company Starlink, owned by Elon Musk, to recover unpaid fines.

Starlink, which has more than 200,000 local customers, told the National Telecommunications Agency that it would not comply with X’s suspension order until its local accounts were unblocked.