Brazil lifts ban on Elon Musk's X after platform paid millions in fines to settle row

THE SUPREME COURT in Brazil has said it will lift a ban on Elon Musk’s social network X, which was blocked in its biggest Latin American market for over a month amid a row over disinformation.

Judge Alexandre de Moraes blocked the social media platform, formerly known as Twitter, in August after Musk refused to remove dozens of right-wing accounts accused of spreading disinformation.

The pair had been engaged in a standoff for months over the issue, while Musk also failed to name a new legal representative in the country as ordered.

Moraes accused the platform of undermining democracy by allowing disinformation to flourish – a position backed by Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who declared that the state would not “be intimidated by individuals, companies or digital platforms that believe themselves to be above the law.”

A furious Musk lashed out at Moraes by calling him an “evil dictator” and dubbing him “Voldemort” after the villain from the “Harry Potter” series.

But in recent days he had been notably more muted on the subject and X has appeared eager to do whatever necessary to have the ban lifted.

The platform racked up $5.2 million (€4.7 million) in fines for failing to comply with a series of court orders.

Last week, it paid the fines to settle the row and have the suspension lifted. 

“I authorise the immediate return of the activities” of the social platform, Moraes said in his ruling today.

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He gave Brazil’s communications regulator 24 hours to make the platform previously known as Twitter accessible again to its millions of Brazilian users.

Musk had yet to react to the decision.

Biggest Latin American market

With more than one mobile phone per inhabitant, Brazilians are among the most connected people in the world.

X had 22 million users in the country before it was blocked.

Many Brazilians, including Lula, migrated to other platforms such as Threads or Bluesky, the social media network created by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey.

But neither has come close to attracting the kind of audience enjoyed by X.

X’s fight with Moraes began during the October 2022 election, in which Bolsonaro failed to win a second term.

It escalated following attacks by Bolsonaro supporters on federal buildings in Brasilia after Lula’s inauguration in January 2023.

The destruction by supporters of Bolsonaro, dubbed the “Trump of the Tropics,” drew comparisons with the January 2021 attacks by supporters of then US president Donald Trump on the US Capitol.

Halfway through its suspension X briefly made a return in Brazil in mid-September, after a technical workaround which it claimed was “inadvertent.”

But it went back offline again after Moraes threatened it with more fines for non-compliance.

With reporting from © AFP 2024

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