Social media giant X, formerly known as Twitter, has ceased its operations in Brazil following a protracted legal dispute with a prominent Brazilian judge regarding the platform’s responsibility in combating misinformation. The announcement was made on Saturday, and the closure is said to be “effective immediately,” but Brazilian users will still have access to the platform.
“We are deeply saddened that we have been forced to make this decision,” stated the company, emphasizing that the responsibility for this decision “lies solely” with Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes. This move marks a significant culmination in an ongoing legal battle between Moraes, who is fighting against the spread of misinformation online, and Elon Musk, the billionaire owner of X.
Earlier this year, Moraes ordered X to block certain accounts alleged to have spread false news and hate speech, including accounts linked to Brazil’s former far-right president Jair Bolsonaro. Bolsonaro has repeatedly made false claims that Brazil’s electronic voting system was vulnerable to fraud ahead of the highly contentious presidential election in 2022. Following his defeat to leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, many of Bolsonaro’s supporters stormed the country’s top governmental institutions in protest of the election results.
“Freedom of expression does not mean freedom to attack,” Moraes, who also leads Brazil’s Superior Electoral Tribunal, has stated.
On Saturday, X claimed that Moraes secretly threatened one of the company’s legal representatives in Brazil with arrest if they did not comply with his court orders to remove certain content from the platform. The company released images of a document allegedly signed by Moraes, which stated that daily fines of 20,000 reais (approximately $3,653) would be imposed, as well as an arrest warrant against X representative Rachel Nova Conceicao, if the platform did not comply with the judge’s demands.
Brazil’s Supreme Court told the news agency Reuters that they would not comment on the case and neither confirm nor deny the authenticity of the document shared by X. In a separate social media post, Musk referred to Moraes as “a complete disgrace to justice.”
“The decision to close the X office in Brazil was difficult,” Musk remarked, adding that had the company accepted the judge’s orders, “there would have been no way we could explain our actions without being ashamed.”
Earlier this year, Moraes opened an investigation against Musk after he said he would reactivate accounts on X that the judge had ordered to be blocked. Following Musk’s challenges, X representatives shifted course and informed Brazil’s Supreme Court that the social media giant would comply with the legal rulings. Lawyers representing X in Brazil told the Supreme Court in April that “technical errors” had allowed users who were ordered blocked to remain active on the platform, after Moraes had requested X to explain why they allegedly had not followed his decisions.