Elon Musk's X officially went offline in Brazil after the Supreme Court ordered its "immediate and complete suspension". The decision of the Brazil top court came after Musk allegedly refused to name a legal representative for Brazil and missed the deadline imposed by Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes.
Following the Supreme Court's orders, the social media platform went offline on the web and mobile apps, making it inaccessible to over 22 million users in Brazil.
With the fifth-largest digital population, users were met with the message - "Seems like you lost connectivity. We’ll keep retrying.”
The feud between Musk and Alexandre de Moraes dates back to April 2024, after the Supreme Court judge ordered the suspension of dozens of X accounts for spreading disinformation. Moraes had ordered the suspension of accounts for spreading disinformation. These accounts belonged mainly to supporters of the former right-wing president Jair Bolsonaro.
Amid the disinformation row, X (formerly Twitter) closed down its office in Brazil after its representative was allegedly threatened with arrest for failure to comply with the orders.
Following the initial orders, X was also threatened with fines for refusing to comply with the order, resulting in a feud between Musk and Moraes.
After the order on Saturday, De Moraes added that the social media platform will remain suspended in the country until Musk and the company comply with the orders. A daily fine of 50,000 reais ($8,900) for people or companies using or VPNs to access X have also been imposed.
The order from Alexandre de Moraes has been criticised by many, including Musk, for violating free speech.
Taking to X, the former CEO of the social media platform stated - "Free speech is the bedrock of democracy and an unelected pseudo-judge in Brazil is destroying it for political purposes."
Musk went on to criticise the current Brazilian administration stating it would be "insane to invest in the country with the current administration" and the Supreme Court judge.
The Brazilian Bar Association has also moved the Supreme Court to reconsider its order and the fines imposed on citizens using VPNs to access the social media platform. The association argued that sanctions cannot be imposed without ensuring an adversarial process and a right to full defense for the citizens involved.
