(Corrects typo in second paragraph)
By Ricardo Brito and Luciana Magalhaes
BRASILIA/SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Brazil's telecoms regulator Anatel could impose sanctions on Starlink, the satellite internet provider controlled by Elon Musk, for failing to comply with the country's rules, and even revoke its license to operate in the country, a senior official at the regulator said on Monday.
Anatel commissioner Artur Coimbra told Reuters the regulator is inspecting all Brazilian telecom operators to ensure they have shut down messaging platform x as ordered by a Supreme Court judge.
Starlink is the only company that has told Anatel that it will not abide by Judge Alexandre de Moraes' decision, Coimbra said in an interview.
Earlier, a Supreme Court panel voted unanimously to uphold the suspension of social media giant x in the country for defying a court order, blocking access to more than 20 million users.
Last week, Moraes ruled that x should be suspended in Brazil because it failed to appoint a local legal representative as required by law and a previous court order setting a deadline for compliance.
Judges Flavio Dino, Cristiano Zanin, Carmen Lucia and Luiz Fux sided with Judge Alexandre de Moraes. Three of the judges on the panel said the suspension could be reversed if the platform complies with previous decisions.
x was taken offline in Brazil early Saturday following Moraes' decision. Brazil is x's sixth-largest market globally, with about 21.5 million users in April, according to Statista.
Moraes and x owner Elon Musk have been locked in a months-long feud after the social media platform defied orders to block accounts accused by investigators of spreading misinformation and hate.
Musk alleged that Moraes tried to censor users and closed x's office in Brazil in August without appointing a new representative, triggering the suspension.
On Monday, Musk responded “Exactly” to a post describing the suspension as an attack on freedom of expression and the rights of Brazilians.
Alongside Moraes, Judge Dino wrote: “It is not possible for a company to operate in the territory of a country and attempt to impose its vision on which rules should be valid or applied.”
However, Dino, Zanin and Fux indicated that they would be open to reconsidering the decision if x complied with the court rulings.
Supreme Court President Luis Roberto Barroso, who was not part of the review panel, said removing legal representatives to avoid complying with court decisions “is behavior that would not be acceptable anywhere in the world.”
<img src="https://technicalterrence.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Brazil39s-telecom-regulator-Anatel-could-revoke-Starlink39s-license-official-says.jpg" title="© Reuters. The logo of social media platform x is seen displayed on a mobile phone next to a reflection of the Supreme Court of Brazil in this illustration taken August 30, 2024 in Brasilia, Brazil. REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino/File Photo” alt=”© Reuters. The logo of social media platform x is seen displayed on a mobile phone next to a reflection of the Supreme Court of Brazil in this illustration taken August 30, 2024 in Brasilia, Brazil. REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino/File Photo” rel=”external-image”/>
x remained inaccessible to most users in Brazil.
Starlink said it was refusing to remove x from its service until the freeze on its Brazilian bank accounts was lifted. Last week, Moraes froze Starlink's accounts after x failed to pay fines imposed for failing to provide documents.
!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s){if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod? n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version=’2.0′;n.queue=();t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)(0);s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,’script’,’https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js’);
