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① brazil's supreme court has ordered a ban on elon musk's social media platform x from operating in the country as a step to combat fake news and hate speech; ② musk previously ignored judge moraes' request and refused to appoint a legal representative for the platform in brazil; ③ the court ruling also stated that anyone who illegally accesses x will face a fine of $8,900 per day.

cailianshe news, august 31 (editor: zhou ziyi)brazil's supreme court has ordered a ban on elon musk's social media platform x from operating in the country after the billionaire refused to appoint a legal representative for the platform in brazil.

it all started with musk’s months-long feud with the country’s supreme court justice alexandre de moraes.

judge moraes is currently leading a crackdown on fake news and hate speech on social media platforms, which he says is undermining brazil's democracy.in recent months, he has singled out musk as the subject of a "fake news" investigation and earlier this week demanded that x appoint legal representation in brazil within 24 hours or face the threat of a ban.

musk, who calls himself an absolutist for free speech, has divested much of the company's content review infrastructure and personnel since acquiring x in 2022. the company relies mainly on x users to police misinformation through "community notes." when users find a post misleading, they can add a label to the post, which is the function of "community notes."

in fact, the conflict between the two is also mixed with political factors. musk has publicly expressed his support for the "brazilian trump", the far-right former president bolsonaro. after losing to lula in 2022, bolsonaro continued to question the election results on social media. in early 2023, bolsonaro's supporters launched violent attacks on the brazilian presidential palace, the supreme court and the congress, which was somewhat similar to the "capitol hill riot" in the united states.

in june 2023, brazil's supreme electoral court ruled that bolsonaro abused his power and improperly used public media in the 2022 general election. since then, the brazilian government has also strengthened the governance of the spread of misinformation and hate speech on social media. of course, the governance targets are mainly far-right supporters.

x-ban

moraes wrote in a recent ruling that "x has been fostering a toxic environment in brazilian social networks, including during the 2024 local elections," and accused the company of repeatedly and deliberately disrespecting court orders.

moraes added that "extremist groups and digital militias have been using the platform to spread nazi, racist, fascist, hateful and anti-democratic rhetoric on a massive scale".

the ruling also states that brazil's telecommunications regulator has 24 hours to implement the ban.apple and google have five days to block x on ios and android and remove the x app from their online stores, and internet service providers must ban it within the same time frame.

the ruling also gave disciplinary measures, saying that anyone who uses a vpn to access x will face a fine of 50,000 reais ($8,900) per day. as of friday evening (august 30), the x social media platform was still available in brazil because it will take some time for moraes' ruling to take effect.

musk strikes back

minutes after the ruling was announced, musk lashed out at moraes on his platform, noting that "free speech is a cornerstone of democracy, and an unelected pseudo-judge in brazil is destroying it for political purposes."

earlier this month, musk closed x's offices in brazil to protest a court order to remove certain accounts that were allegedly spreading misinformation.

in response, the court notified the company on wednesday evening (august 28) local time that it had given the company 24 hours to appoint a legal representative in the country, otherwise the judge might issue an injunction against platform x in the country.

a post on x's official global government affairs account late thursday said the company plans to "publish all of judge moraes's unlawful requests and all relevant court documents to increase transparency."

brazil has historically been a key market for many large social networking services, including x. according to outside estimates, x has tens of millions of active users in brazil.brazil has long been one of x's largest markets outside the united states and japan.