SAO PAULO (AP) — It’s a showdown between the world’s richest man and a Brazilian Supreme Court justice.
The judge, Alexandre de Moraes, has threatened to suspend social media giant X nationwide in the coming hours if billionaire owner Elon Musk does not follow any of his orders soon. Musk has responded with insults, including calling de Moraes a “tyrant” and “a dictator.”
It’s the latest chapter in a months-long feud between the two men over free speech, far-right accounts and disinformation. As the deadline for compliance approaches, many in Brazil are waiting and watching to see if either man will blink.
WHAT IS THE BASIS FOR THE THREAT OF THE MORAES?
Earlier this month, X removed his legal representative from Brazil on the grounds that De Moraes had threatened her with arrest. At 8:07 p.m. local time (7:07 p.m. Eastern Standard Time) on Wednesday night, De Moraes gave the platform 24 hours to appoint a new representative, or the platform would be shut down until his order was enforced.
Moraes’ order is based on Brazilian law that requires foreign companies to have legal representation to operate in the country, the Supreme Court’s press office said. This ensures that someone can be notified of legal decisions and is qualified to take the required action.
X’s refusal to appoint a legal representative would be particularly problematic in the run-up to Brazil’s municipal elections in October, with an expected flood of fake news, said Luca Belli, coordinator of the Technology and Society Center at the Getulio Vargas Foundation, a university in Rio de Janeiro. Takedown orders are common during campaigns, and the lack of someone to receive legal notices would make timely compliance impossible.
“Until last week, 10 days ago, there was an office here, so this problem didn’t exist. Now there is nothing. Look at the example of Telegram: Telegram doesn’t have an office here, it has about 50 employees around the world. But it has a legal representative,” Belli, who is also a professor at the university’s law school, told The Associated Press.
DOES ONE SINGLE JUDGE REALLY HAVE THAT MUCH POWER?
Every Brazilian judge has the power to enforce decisions. Such measures can range from mild ones such as fines to more severe punishments such as suspension, said Carlos Affonso Souza, a lawyer and director of the Institute for Technology and Society, a Rio-based think tank.
Lone Brazilian judges shut down Meta’s WhatsApp, the country’s most used messaging app, multiple times in 2015 and 2016 after the company refused to comply with police requests for user data. In 2022, de Moraes threatened messaging app Telegram with a nationwide shutdown after it repeatedly ignored requests from Brazilian authorities to block profiles and provide information. He ordered Telegram to appoint a local representative; the company eventually complied and remained online.
Affonso Souza added that an individual judge’s ruling to shut down a platform with so many users would likely be reviewed by the full Supreme Court at a later date.
HOW WOULD DE MORAES SUSPEND X?
De Moraes would first notify the country’s telecommunications regulator, Anatel, which would then instruct operators — including Musk’s own Starlink internet service provider — to suspend users’ access to X. That would include preventing the resolution of X’s website — the term for converting a domain name into an IP address — and blocking access to the IP address of X’s servers from Brazilian territory, Belli said.
Given that the operators are aware of the widely publicized standoff and their obligation to comply with an order from De Moraes, and the fact that this is not complicated, X could be offline in Brazil within 12 hours of receiving their instructions, Belli said.
Because X is widely used on mobile phones, Moraes will also likely warn major app stores to stop offering X in Brazil, Affonso Souza said. Another possible — but highly controversial — step would be to ban access through virtual private networks (VPNs) and impose fines on those who use them to access X, he added.
IS X CLOSED IN OTHER COUNTRIES?
X and its former incarnation, Twitter, are banned in several countries, mainly in authoritarian regimes such as Russia, China, Iran, Myanmar, North Korea, Venezuela and Turkmenistan.
China banned X when it was still called Twitter in 2009, along with Facebook. In Russia, authorities expanded their crackdown on dissent and free media after Russian President Vladimir Putin sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022. They blocked several independent Russian-language media outlets critical of the Kremlin and cut off access to Twitter, which later became X, as well as Meta’s Facebook and Instagram.
In 2009, Twitter became a key communication tool in Iran after the country’s government cracked down on traditional media following a disputed presidential election. Tech-savvy Iranians took to Twitter to organize protests. The government subsequently banned the platform, along with Facebook.
Other countries, including Pakistan, Turkey and Egypt, have also suspended X temporarily in the past, usually to quell dissent and unrest. Twitter was banned in Egypt following the Arab Spring uprisings, which some called the “Twitter Revolution,” but has since been reinstated.
WHY IS BRAZIL SO IMPORTANT TO X AND MUSK?
Brazil is a key market for X and other platforms. According to market research firm Emarketer, about 40 million Brazilians, roughly a fifth of the population, visit X at least once a month. Musk, a self-described “freedom of speech absolutist,” claims De Moraes’ actions amount to censorship and has garnered support from Brazil’s political right. He has also said he wants his platform to become a “global city square” where information flows freely. Losing the Brazilian market — the world’s fourth-largest democracy — would make achieving that goal harder.
Brazil is also a potentially huge growth market for Musk’s satellite company Starlink, given its vast territory and poor internet connectivity in remote areas.
Local media reported Thursday that Moraes had frozen Starlink’s financial assets. Neither Starlink’s news agency nor the Supreme Court responded to AP requests for confirmation. But Musk responded to people who shared the report on X, adding his own insults to Moraes.
“This guy @Alexandre is a criminal of the worst kind, posing as a judge,” he wrote.
De Moraes’s defenders have said his actions were lawful, supported by most of the entire court and served to protect democracy at a time when it is in danger.
In April, De Moraes named Musk as a target in an ongoing investigation into the spread of fake news and opened a separate investigation into the executive for alleged obstruction of business conduct.
WILL X APPOINT A NEW LEGAL REPRESENTATIVE?
X did not respond to requests for comment on the plan to appoint a new representative in Brazil.
Pinheiro Neto, a Brazilian law firm that previously represented X, also declined to comment on the company’s legal situation.
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Biller reported from Rio and Ortutay from Oakland, California.