A leading judicial body in Brazil mandated an immediate, nationwide suspension of the X platform on Friday following an extended legal dispute over content moderation with Elon Musk’s social media company, according to Bloomberg.
The court stipulated that any individuals utilizing VPNs to access the X platform would incur daily penalties of 50,000 reais ($8,900). However, specifics on how the decree would be enforced remain unclear.
Earlier this month, X ceased its operations in Brazil in response to court directives demanding the removal of accounts accused of disseminating misinformation. At that time, the company asserted that Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes had “threatened our legal representative in Brazil with arrest if we do not comply with his censorship orders.” Moraes issued a warning to X earlier in the week, stating that the service would be banned in Brazil if the company did not designate a legal representative within the country.
In a tweet on Friday morning, X’s global affairs team remarked, “Soon, we expect Judge Alexandre de Moraes will order X to be shut down in Brazil, simply because we would not comply with his illegal orders to censor his political opponents.”
The platform has stated that it intends to publish the Brazilian top court’s demands in the forthcoming days and has no plans to comply with these orders.
