Elon Musk’s social media platform X has halted operations in Brazil, citing alleged censorship orders from the Brazilian Supreme Court.
The company claims that Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes has threatened to arrest its legal representative in Brazil if X does not comply with court orders to remove certain content. X says it refused to comply, calling the orders the “most draconian demands of any country on Earth.”
The orders target accounts associated with former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and his supporters, who have been accused of spreading disinformation about the Supreme Court. Moraes has previously ordered the suspension of accounts belonging to these individuals. X claims that Moraes, acting in secret, threatened its legal representative, Rachel Nova Conceição, with arrest if the company did not comply. X shared a document allegedly signed by Moraes, stating that an arrest warrant would be issued against Conceição, accompanied by a daily fine of 20,000 Brazilian reals ($3,650).
”Moraes has chosen to threaten our staff in Brazil rather than respect the law or due process,” the X post read. “As a result, to protect the safety of our staff, we have made the decision to close our operations in Brazil, effective immediately,” placing sole blame on Moraes.
However, X stated that the service would still be available to Brazilian users.
Elon Musk, who took over Twitter in October 2022 and rebranded it as X, reposted the statement, calling Moraes an “utter disgrace to justice” and claiming that his orders “would require us to break (in secret) Brazilian, Argentinian, American, and international law.” He later explained that the decision to close the office was made in response to “secret censorship and private information handover demands.”
The Brazilian Supreme Court refused to comment on the matter, stating that it would neither confirm nor deny the authenticity of the document presented by X. Moraes has previously warned the platform against “disobeying judicial orders,” insisting that “social networks are not lands without laws.”