By Robert McGreevy
A judge in Brazil ordered internet providers to block citizens’ access to X on Friday after Elon Musk defied his orders to suspend certain accounts in the country, the New York Times reported.
Alexandre de Moraes, a justice on Brazil’s Supreme Court, ordered the shutdown after Twitter refused to suspend the accounts of his political opponents.
“These enemies include a duly elected Senator and a 16-year-old girl, among others,” X’s Global Affairs team noted.
The shut down follows Musk closing the company’s offices Aug. 17 in Brazil after Moraes first threatened the company.
Moraes froze the bank accounts of the company’s Brazilian legal representative after she resigned from X following his demands, the company said in their tweet. (RELATED: ‘Dictator’ Judge Punishes Elon Musk’s X For Refusing To Comply With ‘Illegal Orders’)
Moraes apparently ordered the shut down because of X’s lack of a legal representative in the country, the New York Times reported.
“Our challenges against his manifestly illegal actions were either dismissed or ignored. Judge de Moraes’ colleagues on the Supreme Court are either unwilling or unable to stand up to him,” the company wrote.
Moraes also froze the finances of another Musk-owned business in Brazil, SpaceX’s Starlink, the Times reported.
The ban is the latest in a series of troubling events regarding free speech and censorship.
In early August a top official of the European Union’s (EU) European Commission sent Musk a letter warning him that he needs to comply with the EU’s Digital Services Act.
“We are monitoring the potential risks in the EU associated with the dissemination of content that may incite violence, hate and racism in conjunction with major political — or societal — events around the world, including debates and interviews in the context of elections,” Thierry Breton, the European Commissioner for Internal Markets, wrote to Musk.
With great audience comes greater responsibility #DSA
As there is a risk of amplification of potentially harmful content in 🇪🇺 in connection with events with major audience around the world, I sent this letter to @elonmusk
📧⤵️ pic.twitter.com/P1IgxdPLzn
— Thierry Breton (@ThierryBreton) August 12, 2024
Most recently, French Prime Minister Emmanuel Macron’s government jailed Pavel Durov, the owner of encrypted messaging app Telegram, and levied 12 charges against him relating to his platform’s content moderation process.
Durov, the French government said, was “complicit in the administration of an online platform to allow an illegal transaction, in an organized gang,” among other charges.
Regarding the Brazilian government, X’s Global Government Affairs team wrote:
Soon, we expect Judge Alexandre de Moraes will order X to be shut down in Brazil – simply because we would not comply with his illegal orders to censor his political opponents. These enemies include a duly elected Senator and a 16-year-old girl, among others.
When we attempted to defend ourselves in court, Judge de Moraes threatened our Brazilian legal representative with imprisonment. Even after she resigned, he froze all of her bank accounts. Our challenges against his manifestly illegal actions were either dismissed or ignored. Judge de Moraes’ colleagues on the Supreme Court are either unwilling or unable to stand up to him. We are absolutely not insisting that other countries have the same free speech laws as the United States. The fundamental issue at stake here is that Judge de Moraes demands we break Brazil’s own laws. We simply won’t do that. In the days to come, we will publish all of Judge de Moraes’ illegal demands and all related court filings in the interest of transparency. Unlike other social media and technology platforms, we will not comply in secret with illegal orders. To our users in Brazil and around the world, X remains committed to protecting your freedom of speech
— Global Government Affairs (@GlobalAffairs) August 29, 2024
