With the X restriction, which takes place on SaturdayBrazil joins a small club of countries that have taken similar measures against social networks, which are mostly run by authoritarian regimes.
The suspension was ordered by Brazil’s top judge after Elon Musk refused to name a legal representative in the country. Justice Alexandre de Moraes and Musk have been feuding for a month over the allegations that X is involved in obstruction, criminal organization and sedition, which is the decision to say, supporting a network of people known as digital militias who allegedly spread false news defamation and threats to judges of the Supreme Court.
Market research group Emarketer says that around 40 million Brazilians, about a fifth of the population, access X at least once a month.
Other countries restrict X
Beyond the permanent ban, some countries have restricted access to X, formerly Twitter, which political dissidents often use to communicate.
These include Egypt in 2011 during the Arab Spring uprisings, Turkey in 2014 and 2023, and Uzbekistan around the country’s 2021 presidential election.
Here is a list of some others.
Beijing banned Twitter in June 2009 — before it gained prominence in Western media and politics well into the 2010s.
The block came two days before the 20th anniversary of the government’s crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrations in the capital’s Tiananmen Square.
Since then, many Chinese have turned to home alternatives such as Weibo and WeChat.
Twitter was also blocked by Tehran in 2009, as a wave of demonstrations broke out after June’s contested presidential election. right from the end of 2022.
The isolated Central Asian country of Turkmenistan blocked Twitter in the early 2010s along with other foreign online services and websites. Authorities in Ashgabat closely monitor residents’ internet use, provided through the state monopoly operator TurkmenTelecom.
Pyongyang opened its own Twitter account in 2010 in an effort to attract foreigners interested in the country. But the application has been blocked along with Facebook, YouTube and gambling and pornography sites since April 2016. Internet access extends to some government websites under the strict control of the government in the ascetic regime, with access limited to some high-ranking officials.
X has been blocked since February 2021, when authorities targeted the app for use by opponents of the military coup that overthrew the civilian government of Aung San Suu Kyi. Since then, the junta has continued to control internet access in Myanmar.
Some use VPN to connect to X social media networks
Access to Twitter was blocked in 2021 by Moscow, which complained the site allowed users to spread “illegal content”.
The official ban took place in March 2022, following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Many Russian users continue to connect to X through VPN services that allow them to bypass the block.
X has been banned since the parliamentary polls in February this year.
Pakistan’s government, backed by the army, says the block is for security reasons. Former prime minister Imran Khan – now in jail – was targeted by allegations of spreading fraud through a platform against opposition parties.
Nicolas Maduro, who was declared the winner of the July presidential election despite suspicions of fraudordered access to X suspended for 10 days on August 9 as security forces cracked down on demonstrations nationwide. The block remains above a period of 10 days.
The state block in X has come from the court, through Supreme Court judge Alexandre de Moraes. He has highlighted the reactivation of accounts that have been ordered suspended by Brazilian courts.
Users who connect to X via VPN will be fined 50,000 reais ($8,900) per day.
