X to shut down in Brazil as Elon Musk rows with Supreme Court judge

The world’s richest man and one of Brazil’s Supreme Court justices are set for a showdown with Elon Musk’s social media platform X facing a ban in the world’s fourth largest economy.

Supreme Court judge Alexandre de Moraes issued an order on Wednesday for X to appoint a new legal representative within 24 hours or face shutdown.

In Wednesday’s ruling, Mr Moraes says that under the country’s law regulating internet issues, companies that do not respect Brazilian legislation or the confidentiality of private information could have their activities temporarily suspended.

X’s refusal to appoint a legal representative would be particularly problematic ahead of Brazil’s October municipal elections, with a churn of fake news expected, said Luca Belli, coordinator of the Technology and Society Center at the Getulio Vargas Foundation, a university in Rio de Janeiro.

Takedown orders are common during campaigns, and not having someone to receive legal notices would make timely compliance impossible.

Hours after the judge’s decision, Musk said on X that Mr Moraes “has repeatedly broken the laws he has sworn to uphold”.

He had previously called the judge’s decisions regarding X “unconstitutional”.

Musk on Wednesday branded Mr Moraes “an evil dictator cosplaying as a judge”, as he pinned a post by X saying it was expecting to be shut down in Brazil “soon”.

The dispute between Musk and the judge began earlier this month when X claimed one of its legal representatives in Brazil had been threatened with arrest if they did not comply with legal orders to take down some content from the platform.

X, which is accessed by 40 million Brazilians at least once a month, responded by announcing it would close its operations and fire its staff in Brazil due to what it called “censorship orders” from the judge.

Its service would remain available for users in Brazil, it said.

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Earlier this year, Mr Moraes ordered X to block certain accounts implicated in investigations of so-called “digital militias” that have been accused of spreading fake news and hate messages during the government of former far-right president Jair Bolsonaro.

After Musk challenged that decision and said he would reactivate accounts on X that the judge had ordered blocked, Mr Moraes opened an inquiry into the billionaire in early April.

X representatives eventually reversed course and told the Supreme Court the social media giant would obey the legal rulings.

In April, however, Mr Moraes asked X to explain why it allegedly had not fully complied with his decisions.

In response, lawyers representing X in Brazil told the Supreme Court that “operational faults” had allowed users who were ordered blocked to stay active on the social media platform.

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