Media platform X announced on Saturday that it would be closing its operations in Brazil “effective immediately,” citing what it referred to as “censorship orders” from Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes. The platform, owned by billionaire Elon Musk, claimed that Judge Moraes had secretly threatened one of its legal representatives in Brazil with arrest if X did not comply with legal orders to remove certain content from its platform.
The decision to close the 𝕏 office in Brazil was difficult, but, if we had agreed to @alexandre’s (illegal) secret censorship and private information handover demands, there was no way we could explain our actions without being ashamed.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 17, 2024
Despite the closure of its operations, the X service will remain accessible to users in Brazil, according to the company. This decision follows a series of legal confrontations between X and the Brazilian judiciary, particularly related to Judge Moraes’ orders to block specific accounts linked to “digital militias” accused of spreading fake news and hate speech during the administration of former President Jair Bolsonaro.
Earlier this year, Alexandre de Moraes initiated an investigation into Elon Musk after Musk publicly stated that he would reactivate accounts on X that the judge had previously ordered blocked. Musk has criticized Moraes’ rulings, describing them as “unconstitutional.”
In response to the legal challenges, X initially resisted compliance but eventually reversed its stance. In April, representatives of X in Brazil informed the Supreme Court that “operational faults” had caused certain blocked users to remain active on the platform, after Moraes demanded an explanation for the platform’s alleged non-compliance with his rulings.
Brazil’s Supreme Court has not yet commented on the situation. The closure of X’s operations in Brazil marks a significant development in the ongoing tension between the platform and the Brazilian judiciary.
