Social media platform X announced Saturday it would shutter its office in Brazil due to alleged threats of arrest if they do not comply with “censorship orders.”

“Last night, Alexandre de Moraes threatened our legal representative in Brazil with arrest if we do not comply with his censorship orders. He did so in a secret order, which we share here to expose his actions. Despite our numerous appeals to the Supreme Court not being heard, the Brazilian public not being informed about these orders and our Brazilian staff having no responsibility or control over whether content is blocked on our platform, Moraes has chosen to threaten our staff in Brazil rather than respect the law or due process,” X’s Global Government Affairs account posted.

“As a result, to protect the safety of our staff, we have made the decision to close our operation in Brazil, effective immediately,” it continued.

“The X service remains available to the people of Brazil. We are deeply saddened that we have been forced to make this decision. The responsibility lies solely with Alexandre de Moraes. His actions are incompatible with democratic government. The people of Brazil have a choice to make – democracy, or Alexandre de Moraes,” it added.

“Due to demands by ‘Justice’ @Alexandre in Brazil that would require us to break (in secret) Brazilian, Argentinian, American and international law, 𝕏 has no choice but to close our local operations in Brazil. He is an utter disgrace to justice,” Elon Musk said.

From The Guardian:

Earlier this year, Moraes ordered X to block certain accounts, as he investigated so-called “digital militias” that have been accused of spreading fake news and hate messages during the government of the far-right former president Jair Bolsonaro.

Moraes opened an inquiry earlier this year into Musk after he said he would reactivate accounts on X that the judge had ordered blocked. Musk has called Moraes’s decisions regarding X “unconstitutional”.

After Musk’s challenges, X representatives reversed course and told Brazil’s supreme court that the social media giant would comply with the legal rulings.

Lawyers representing X in Brazil in April told the supreme court that “operational faults” had allowed users who were ordered blocked to stay active on the social media platform, after Moraes had asked X to explain why it allegedly had not fully complied with his decisions.

“The decision to close the 𝕏 office in Brazil was difficult, but, if we had agreed to @alexandre’s (illegal) secret censorship and private information handover demands, there was no way we could explain our actions without being ashamed,” Musk said.

“No question that Moraes needs to leave. Having a ‘justice’ who repeatedly and egregiously violates the law is no justice at all,” he added.

Per TechCrunch:

In an earlier post, X listed some of the targeted accounts and said they include “a pastor, a current Parliamentarian, and the wife of a former Parliamentarian.”

Earlier this year, Moraes opened a criminal inquiry into Elon Musk after X’s owner said he would defy a court order by lifting restrictions on designated accounts. Then the company seemed to reverse course and say it would block the accounts after all.

Supporters of Brazil’s former far-right president Jair Bolsonaro have criticized Moraes and called for his impeachment. Bolsonaro lost the election in 2022, and Brazil’s Superior Electoral Court has blocked him from seeking office again for eight years, alleging that he sought to undermine the election through his claims of fraud.

Musk, who visited Brazil in 2022 and met with Bolsonaro, has also said Moraes “should resign or be impeached.”

 

Join The Conversation. Leave a Comment.


We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.