Brazil lifts ban on X as Elon Musk complies with court mandates
- In Reports
- 04:54 PM, Oct 09, 2024
- Myind Staff
Brazilians will soon be able to use X again after a Supreme Court judge lifted a ban that lasted almost six weeks. The ban was originally put in place because Elon Musk had failed to comply with the country’s laws. The Guardian reports that after a protracted legal battle between Musk and the Brazilian Supreme Court, the ban was finally put into effect at the end of August, affecting over 22 million users in Brazil. Musk's failure to designate a local representative and pay sizable fines was the direct cause of the ban.
This conflict, however, also represented a larger struggle against the dissemination of far-right misinformation and anti-democratic content on the platform, which Brazilian authorities connected to the far-right riots in January 2023 in Brasília. The ban incited a strong response from Musk, who has ties to far-right individuals such as former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro. He even uploaded a meme to vent his frustration, calling Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes a dictator and referring to him as "Voldemort."
As required by Brazilian law, Musk had to appoint a Brazilian lawyer as X's local representative and pay fines totalling 28.6 million reais (£3.9 million) in recent days, according to a report from The Guardian. As a result, Moraes mandated that X's operations in Brazil be promptly resumed and the suspension lifted. Even though X wasn't fully accessible without a virtual private network on Tuesday night, it is likely to be accessible soon.
Commentators and democracy advocates in Brazil hailed this development as a victory for the nation's institutions and the rule of law. Political pundit Gerson Camarotti highlighted that the prohibition was the result of court orders not being followed, not an act of censorship. He pointed out that despite the ban, life carried on as usual in Brazil, with many users switching to the rival platform Bluesky.
“The most interesting aspect is that Brazil didn’t grind to a halt because of the ban on X,” Camarotti remarked. “Nobody in Brazil died because of its absence,” mentioning that Musk’s platform had become synonymous with hatred.
The ruling was also praised as a major win for Brazilian democracy and its institutions by the social media activism group Sleeping Giants. They said, “The suspension of X was crucial to ensure that all companies, including big tech, adhere to Brazilian laws, particularly when the rights of our citizens and our democratic institutions are at stake.” They explained that X was suspended due to a number of court orders that were disregarded, not to stifle free speech.
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