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Musk made the difficult decision to shut down X's Brazilian operations, but X's difficulties may have just begun!

2024-08-19

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Cailianshe News, August 19 (Editor: Ma Lan)In April this year, billionaire Musk clashed with Brazilian Supreme Court Judge Alexandre de Moraes over his social media platform X. The two sides once stepped on each other's "sore feet" on the Internet. One threatened to fine X every day, and the other shouted that the other should resign in shame.

The reason was that the Brazilian Supreme Court required X platform to ban some popular accounts to combat hate speech and false information, but Musk insisted that he would not do so. Subsequently, Moraes said that he would investigate Musk because X obstructed judicial justice in Brazil and Musk used X as a criminal tool.

The latest development in the story is that X announced that it would close its operations in Brazil, but would maintain its services. Musk himself regretted that closing the X office in Brazil was an extremely difficult decision.

X's Global Government Affairs Department stated that Moraes threatened X's legal representative in Brazil, saying that if he did not comply with his review order, he would arrest X's legal representative. In order to protect the safety of X's Brazilian employees, X will immediately shut down its operations in Brazil.

X had about 20 million active users in Brazil as of the first quarter, down 15% from a year earlier, according to data firm Sensor Tower. It’s unclear whether the closure of its Brazilian operations will be a significant blow to X’s finances.

In addition to Brazil, X and Musk are also facing tightened regulation in many countries. Recently, Musk and X were accused of indulging the spread of false news due to the riots in the UK, and many British officials have withdrawn from the X platform.

Earlier in February this year, X had a dispute with the Indian government over posts related to the farmers' protest. In the end, X deleted all the accounts and posts that the Indian government required to be banned.

Last year, X was fined by Australian authorities for violating e-safety regulations. In addition, X has been the subject of an EU investigation, mainly because X is suspected of inciting hate speech and spreading harmful content such as child exploitation.

The closure of the business line in Brazil is a severe blow to X's speech policy, and if Musk and X choose to continue to "fight" with governments, then X's Waterloo in Brazil is likely to become a harbinger of an avalanche.

(Ma Lan, Cailianshe)