A Brazilian judge has officially banned X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, bringing the monthslong conflict between Elon Musk and Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes to a head. On August 30th, Justice de Moraes handed down the order and notified the country’s communications agency to limit access to the platform within 24 hours.
The Brazilian justice, who has led the country’s efforts against misinformation, opened an investigation into X in April after Musk said he reactivated accounts the platform was ordered to block.
Musk later closed X’s offices in Brazil over claims de Moraes threatened to arrest the company’s local legal representative if the platform didn’t follow “censorship orders.” Despite Justice de Moraes warning that Brazil would ban X if it didn’t appoint a new legal representative, Musk still hasn’t complied, leading to the platform’s suspension.
If you’re interested in keeping up with this story, check out all the latest news below.
Aug 31
Bluesky has gained a million new users in the last three days.The platform posted about the milestone this afternoon, which it crossed after Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered a ban on Elon Musk’s X yesterday as part of an ongoing feud with the platform.
Apparently, enough are headed to Bluesky to drive its iOS app to the top of the Brazilian App Store, as TechCrunch writes.
Aug 30
COME (BACK) TO BRAZIL!!!!!Brazilian fans of musicians, actors, and other celebrities play a huge role in cultivating fandoms online — and it’s unclear what will happen to stan Twitter (X) now that a judge in Brazil has ordered a ban on platform. A Timothée Chalamet updates account has already announced it’ll cease operations, and I bet this won’t be the only unexpected collateral damage.
Aug 30
Brazil’s X ban is sending lots of people to Bluesky
Image: BlueskyX is currently banned in Brazil following an order from a Supreme Court justice, and Brazilian users seem to be turning to Bluesky, an alternate social network, in droves.
Read Article >“Brazil, you’re setting new all-time-highs for activity on Bluesky!” the official Bluesky account said in a post.
Aug 30
Judge orders X ban in Brazil
Image: The VergeA judge in Brazil has ordered the suspension of X after owner Elon Musk failed to designate a new legal representative for the country, according to reports from Bloomberg and local news outlet Poder360.
Read Article >Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes told the National Telecommunications Agency (Anatel) to limit access to X within 24 hours and has given Apple and Google five days to remove X from their mobile app stores. The country will also impose daily fines of $50,000 Brazilian real (~$8,900 USD) to people who try to access X through a virtual private network (VPN), as reported by Poder360.
Aug 29
Brazil threatens to suspend X.Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes presented Elon Musk with an ultimatum last night: appoint a new legal representative in Brazil within 24 hours or X will be banned.
The ongoing dispute follows X closing its office in Brazil after being ordered to remove several accounts for allegedly spreading hate speech and misinformation. The service remains available to Brazil’s estimated 40 million monthly users... for now.
Aug 17
X says it has closed its Brazilian operation.The site accuses Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes of a “secret order” to arrest its legal representative if X doesn’t “comply with his censorship orders.” Despite the change, “X service remains available to the people of Brazil.”
Justice de Moraes opened an investigation of the platform in April over its reactivation of accounts it was ordered to block. (The site soon reversed course.)
Apr 16
X reverses course on Brazil.Elon Musk’s lawyers have reportedly undercut his free-speech theatrics related to ye old Twitter’s refusal to block accounts as ordered by the country’s highest court. According to Reuters, X’s lawyers said the following in a letter addressed to Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes on Monday:
“As already communicated to the federal police, X Brasil informs that all orders issued by this Supreme Court and the Superior Electoral Court will continue to be fully complied with by X Corp.”
Apr 8
Elon Musk and Brazil are beefing over X
Image: Kristen Radtke / The Verge; Getty ImagesBrazil has opened an investigation into Elon Musk over a potential obstruction of justice after the X owner said he reactivated accounts on the social media platform Brazil had ordered the platform to block.
Read Article >The inquiry opened by Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes on Sunday follows a string of heated interactions between Musk and the Brazilian government. On Saturday, X’s global government affairs team announced that “court decisions” had forced the platform to block “certain popular accounts” in Brazil and would face daily fines (of up to $20,000, according to The Associated Press) if it failed to comply.
