By Luana Maria Benedito
SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Media platform x said on Saturday it would shut down its operations in Brazil “with immediate effect” due to what it called “censorship orders” from Brazilian judge Alexandre de Moraes.
x, owned by billionaire Elon Musk, claims Moraes secretly threatened one of the company's legal representatives in the South American country with arrest if he did not comply with legal orders to remove some content from its platform.
The social media giant posted images of a document purportedly signed by Moraes that says a daily fine of 20,000 reais ($3,653) and an arrest warrant would be imposed against x's manager, Rachel Nova Conceicao, if the platform does not fully comply with Moraes' orders.
“To protect the safety of our staff, we have made the decision to close our operation in Brazil, effective immediately,” x said.
Brazil's Supreme Court, where Moraes sits, told Reuters it would not comment on the matter and would neither confirm nor deny the authenticity of the document shared by x.
The x service remains available to Brazilian citizens, the platform said on Saturday.
Earlier this year, Moraes ordered x to block certain accounts as it investigates so-called “digital militias” that have been accused of spreading fake news and hate speech during the government of far-right former President Jair Bolsonaro.
Moraes launched an investigation earlier this year against the billionaire after Musk said he would reactivate accounts on x that the judge had ordered blocked. Musk has called Moraes' decisions regarding x “unconstitutional.”
Following Musk's challenges, x's representatives changed their stance and told Brazil's Supreme Court that the social media giant would comply with the legal rulings.
<img src="https://technicalterrence.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/X-says-it-will-close-operations-in-Brazil-after-judge.jpg" title="© Reuters. The logo of the "x” se ve en la parte superior de la sede de la plataforma de mensajería x, anteriormente conocida como twitter, en el centro de San Francisco, California, EE. UU., el 30 de julio de 2023. REUTERS/Carlos Barria/Foto de archivo” alt=”© Reuters. The logo of the “x” se ve en la parte superior de la sede de la plataforma de mensajería x, anteriormente conocida como twitter, en el centro de San Francisco, California, EE. UU., el 30 de julio de 2023. REUTERS/Carlos Barria/Foto de archivo” rel=”external-image”/>
Lawyers representing x in Brazil told the Supreme Court in April that “operational failures” had allowed users who were ordered to be blocked to remain active on the social media platform, after Moraes asked x to explain why it had allegedly failed to fully comply with his rulings.
Musk, in posts on x on Saturday, called Moraes an “absolute disgrace to justice” and said the company could not have agreed to the judge's “demands for secret censorship and handing over of private information.”
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