Elon Musk, owner of X.
Sao Paulo (Brazil): Brazil has given a big blow to Elon Musk, the owner of X company. Getting into a fight with the judge has proved costly for him. A judge of Brazil’s Supreme Court has ordered the suspension of the services of the social media platform ‘X’ in the country. This has increased Elon Musk’s troubles. According to the decision, Judge Alexandre de Moraes has taken this step after Elon Musk, the owner of ‘X’, refused to nominate a legal representative of the company in Brazil.
The move deepens months of differences between Musk and Justice Moraes over freedom of expression, far-right accounts and the flow of misinformation. Justice Moraes warned Musk on Wednesday night that if he did not comply with his order to appoint a legal representative in Brazil, the use of ‘X’ would be banned in the country. He also set a 24-hour deadline to comply with the order. The company has been without a legal representative in Brazil since earlier this month.
This judge gave the verdict
Justice Moraes wrote in his decision, “Elon Musk has shown complete disrespect for Brazil’s sovereignty and in particular the judiciary. In this way, he has shown as if he is indeed a ‘supranational entity’, which is exempt from the laws of every country.” ‘Supranational entity’ means entities that have the power and influence to take decisions beyond national borders and interests. Justice Moraes said that ‘X’ services in Brazil will remain suspended until the company complies with his order. He has also ordered a fine of US $ 8,900 per day on people and companies trying to use ‘X’ in the country through VPN (Virtual Private Network).
Instructions to App Store to remove VPN
In a separate order later, Justice Moraes withdrew from an initial decision that had given internet service providers and the telecom regulator five days to block access to X and for app stores to remove VPNs. The new order said Brazil’s telecom regulator Anatel would have 24 hours to implement the decision. Anatel chairman Carlos Baigorri told news channel Globonews that the country’s major service providers would take immediate action, but smaller companies may need more time to suspend X’s services.
A full bench of Brazil’s Supreme Court is expected to rule on the case, but no date has been set for a hearing. X posted on its official Global Government Affairs page late Thursday that the company feared Moraes could ban the use of X in Brazil “because we will not comply with his illegal orders intended to censor political opponents.” (AP)
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