Brazil’s telecommunications regulator said on Friday it was suspending access to Elon Musk’s X social network in the country to comply with an order from a judge who has been locked in a months-long feud with the billionaire investor.

The popular social media platform missed a court-imposed deadline on Thursday evening to name a legal representative in Brazil, triggering the suspension.

Musk has argued that supreme court justice Alexandre de Moraes was trying to enforce unjustified censorship, while the judge has insisted that social media needs hate speech regulations. “They’re shutting down the #1 source of truth in Brazil,” Musk said in a post on X on Friday.

The judge’s ruling could cause X to lose one of its largest and most coveted markets, at a time when Musk has struggled with advertising revenue for the platform.

X remained accessible in Brazil late on Friday, though some Brazilians posted on other platforms that their access to X was already being blocked. Three of the country’s top telecoms carriers said they would begin blocking access from midnight (5am SAST on Saturday), according to a report by local news outlet UOL.

The feud has led to the freezing this week of satellite internet provider Starlink’s bank accounts in Brazil. Starlink is a unit of Musk-led rocket company SpaceX.

In his ruling, Moraes ordered that X, formerly Twitter, be suspended in Brazil until it complied with all related court orders, including the payment of more than US$3-million in fines, as well as the designation of a local representative, as required by Brazilian law.

Fines for VPN users

Moraes also ordered telecoms regulator Anatel to implement the suspension order. The agency said it is proceeding with compliance, but without specifying a timetable.

Moraes ordered that those who continued to access X via VPNs be fined up to the equivalent of R160 000/day.

Tech giants Apple and Google were initially instructed to remove X from their app stores and implement so-called anti-VPN obstacles that would make it more difficult for users of Apple’s iOS operating system and Google’s Android to open the X app on phones or tablets. But Moraes later reversed that part of his order, saying it would not be needed.

Read: EU prepares to do battle with Musk’s X

Unlike in many other countries, Brazil’s supreme court judges are able to exercise sweeping powers to make unilateral decisions. But in the dispute over X, Moraes has been backed by a majority of the 11-member court, including the chief justice, Roberto Barroso.

The dispute over X has its roots in a Moraes order from earlier this year that required the platform to block accounts implicated in probes of alleged spreading of distorted news and hate.

Musk denounced the order as censorship. He responded by closing the company’s offices in Brazil but ensured the platform was still available in the country.

He has said Starlink would continue to serve Brazilians, including the military, for free “until this matter is resolved”.

Earlier on Friday, Starlink asked the supreme court to suspend its decision to freeze its local bank accounts, arguing it has complied with all judicial orders. That request was dismissed on Friday evening.

Read: Musk puts X – and himself – on a collision course with governments

Asked to comment, Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva insisted that all businesses operating in the country must comply with their legal obligations. “Just because a guy has a lot of money doesn’t mean he can disrespect” the law, the leftist leader told local radio on Friday.

Musk derided the president as Moraes’s “lapdog” in a Thursday post in which he also called the judge a “dictator”.

But at an event on Friday, Moraes showed no signs of backing down. “Those who violate democracy, who violate fundamental human rights, whether in person or through social media, must be held accountable,” he said. — Lisandra Paraguassu, Ricardo Brito and Luana Maria Benedito, with Andre Romani, (c) 2024 Reuters