The federal supreme court in Brazil recently voted unanimously to uphold orders suspending the use of Elon Musk's social network X nationwide. This decision came after Musk and X had defied court requests to take down accounts or posts that were deemed to violate Brazil's laws on political misinformation and hate speech online. The court also froze the financial assets of Musk's satellite internet service Starlink in Brazil to ensure compliance with the court's orders.
Brazil's suspension of X went into effect over the weekend, making the app and website mostly inaccessible to users in the country, which has a highly online population. Musk and his companies have expressed their opposition to the court's actions, calling them "illegal" and lacking due process. Musk has escalated his rhetoric against the court and its top justice, Alexandre de Moraes, over the past week, even calling for an end to U.S. foreign aid to Brazil.
The blocking of X in Brazil has sparked division among users and politicians over the legitimacy of the ban. While some Brazilians have had difficulty navigating other social media platforms in X's absence, there has been an increase in activity on other social networks like Bluesky.
Musk has presented himself as a proponent of free speech, but his actions have been inconsistent. X has removed content critical of ruling parties in Turkey and India, despite resisting orders to do so in Brazil and Australia.