Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX and Tesla and owner of X appears at the Milken Conference 2024 Global Conference Session at The Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, California, USA, May 6, 2024.
David Swanson Reuters
Tesla, SpaceX and X Corp. chief Elon Musk launched an online attack on Brazilian Supreme Court judge Alexandre de Moraes on Thursday, amid an escalating political and legal battle between tech billionaires and companies, and Brazil’s highest court.
X Global Government Affairs issued a statement on Thursday evening before the suspension of the platform in Brazil. Among other things, the company said X plans to publish all de Moraes’ requests, which he believes to be illegal, and related court filings in the coming days “in the interest of transparency.”
Court De Moraes announced on Wednesday that it ordered Musk and X Corp. to appoint a legal representative for the social media company, formerly known as Twitter, in Brazil within 24 hours, or X will face a “suspension of activity” there. .
The suspension of X in Brazil could cause serious business problems for existing social networks. Brazil has a population of over 171 million active social media users, according to market research by Oosga.
The nation is gearing up for October municipal elections. And according to Brazilian law, social networks there must employ people who can receive and consider government takedown notices of political misinformation.
X has no such employees in Brazil, after the company said it was cutting all employees from the country earlier this month.
On Wednesday night, Musk posted a manipulated image that appeared to show a judge behind bars. “One day, @Alexandre, the picture of you in this prison will be real. Mark my words,” wrote Musk to de Moraes and Musk’s 195.8 million followers registered on X.
On Thursday, a report from G1 Globo in Brazil announced that de Moraes ordered the “freezing of all financial assets” of Musk’s company in Brazil, including Starlink owned by SpaceX, to “guarantee the payment of the fine” imposed by the court against X. .
“Earlier this week, we received an order from Brazilian Supreme Court Justice @alexandre de Moraes that freed Starlink’s finances and prevented Starlink from conducting financial transactions in the country,” the company said in a post last Wednesday.
“This order is based on an unfounded determination that Starlink should be held liable for the fines imposed by the institution against X,” the company said. “It was published in secret and without giving Starlink the legal process guaranteed by the Brazilian Constitution. We intend to solve the problem legally.”
On August 29, 2024, in Brazil, the Minister of the Supreme Court, the Minister of the STF Alexandre de Moraes, ordered the blocking of the account of another company, Starlink, Elon Musk, to guarantee the payment of the fine imposed by the STF due to the lack of representative X in Brazil.
Ton Molina Nurphoto Getty Images
Starlink is a satellite internet service operated by SpaceX. It is currently approved for commercial operation in 105 countries, including Brazil. Starlink has advertised X under Musk’s management and Musk has encouraged people in Brazil to use Starlink to access X.
Musk, X Corp CEO Linda Yaccarino and representatives for SpaceX did not respond to CNBC’s request for more information Thursday afternoon.
On Thursday, Musk called de Moraes “an outright criminal,” who only “pretends to be a judge,” in a post on X. The tech billionaire continued, “The tyrant, @Alexandre, is the dictator of Brazil. ,” referring to Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who was elected President of Brazil in 2022, defeating former right-wing president Jair Bolsonaro.
Bolsonaro is a longtime ally of Musk, and his government granted Musk the right to operate Starlink in Brazil and awarded Musk with a medal in recognition of his contributions to the country. Bolsonaro’s right-wing supporters have become fans of the tech billionaire.
A man hangs a flag with a portrait of tech tycoon Elon Musk during a demonstration calling for former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro on Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on April 21, 2024.
Mauro Pimentel AFP Getty Images
De Moraes’ critics saw him as a censor, overstepping the bounds of his role. Advocates hail the court’s efforts to curb dangerous misinformation online in Brazil.
Earlier this year, on April 7, judge de Moraes started an investigation into Musk and X Corp.
When Musk announced that he would defy a Brazilian court order to restrict or suspend some popular accounts on X, on April 15, a lawyer representing the social network told the Brazilian Supreme Court that he would comply with the court order.
The De Moraes court is also investigating Musk and X as part of a wider investigation into Brazil’s so-called digital militia, people accused of spreading misinformation online with the aim of attacking the country’s democratic institutions.
X Corp. subpoenaed by the Judiciary Committee of the US House of Representatives to share information about an order from a Brazilian court on content moderation. The Republican-controlled committee, concerned about censorship, released information about a Brazilian court order asking X to suspend or remove about 150 user accounts from the platform in recent years.
