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Editor of Every Economic Report: Bi Luming

The global government affairs team of social media company X posted on the X platform on August 17 that the Supreme Court Justice of Brazil, Alexandre de Morais, threatened that:If X did not comply with his review order, he would arrest X's legal representative in Brazil, "and he did so in a secret order, which we share here to expose his actions."

“Despite the fact that our multiple appeals to the Brazilian Supreme Court were unsuccessful, the Brazilian public was not informed of these orders, and our Brazilian employees have no responsibility or control over whether content is blocked on our platform, de Morais chose to threaten our employees in Brazil rather than respect the law or due process,” X said.

X said that in order to protect the safety of its employees, it decided to immediately close its business in Brazil, but Brazilians can still use X services. "We are deeply saddened by being forced to make this decision, and the responsibility lies entirely with De Morais."

According to Jiemian News on April 8, Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Morais launched an investigation into whether Musk obstructed justice, escalating the dispute between the two sides on the social platform X.

Morais said in a document released by the court that Musk "launched a fake news campaign" and that X, formerly known as Twitter, was abusing its economic power to "illegally influence public opinion." Musk was also included in a criminal investigation into "digital militias." Before the court responded, Musk said he would defy the court order and lift restrictions on some X accounts in Brazil. In early April, the billionaire posted several posts on social media accusing Morais.

According to a report by Reference News citing AFP on April 8, Judge Alexandre de Morais also ordered "social networking site X not to violate any judicial order, including reactivating accounts that have been blocked by the Supreme Court", otherwise a fine of 100,000 reais (about 18,300 euros) will be imposed for each reactivated profile.

The report said that in recent years, the judge himself had ordered the blocking of some accounts on the X website, some of which were suspected of spreading false information.

In his ruling, he emphasized in capital letters: "Social networks are not lawless places."

On the evening of April 6, Musk began a series of attacks on the judge on the X website, saying he would challenge the latter's judicial ruling by "lifting all restrictions", but did not disclose further details. According to reports, Musk said, "We are likely to lose all our income in Brazil and have to close our office there. But principles are more important than interests."

On April 7, he attacked again, saying that Judge de Morais should "resign or be removed from office" because he had "blatantly and repeatedly betrayed the Constitution and the Brazilian people."

Shortly after Musk's initial attack on the judge on April 6, Brazil's federal attorney general, Jorge Messias, called for "urgent regulation of social networks." "We cannot live in a society where billionaires residing abroad control social networks and show a willingness to violate the rule of law, disobey judicial orders and threaten our authorities," he added on the X website, without mentioning Musk by name.

X and other social networks have faced increasing regulatory pressure in recent years around the world, including in Australia, Brazil, the European Union, India and Turkey.

In February this year, X deleted accounts and posts related to the ongoing farmer protests in the country at the request of the Indian government.

Last year, X was fined for failing to comply with Australian electronic safety regulations.

X is also the subject of an EU investigation under its relatively new Digital Services Act, a suite of laws designed to hold tech companies accountable for promoting hate speech, child exploitation and other harmful content on their platforms.

Bruna Santos, global campaign manager at the nonprofit Digital Action, has said that if X decides to violate the order, the platform could be temporarily blocked by Brazilian authorities. "Musk's actions are intended to provoke the Brazilian judiciary," she said. "I think there is a good chance that X will be blocked."

Daily Economic News integrates Jiemian News, Reference News, and public information

Daily Economic News