Elon Musk's Social Media Platform X/Twitter Shuts Down Operations in Brazil Following Local Threats, Access Remains for Users
Brook.X
This week, X/Twitter, a social media site under Elon Musk, announced the immediate termination of its operations in Brazil. This entails the closure of its Brazilian offices and the absence of any company representatives in the country. The decision comes as the platform faces threats from local authorities.
Why X Announced the Immediate Cessation of Operations in Brazil:
The Chief Justice of Brazil's Superior Electoral Court and Supreme Federal Court Justice, Alexandre de Moraes, threatened X, stating that if the company's legal representative in Brazil did not comply with his censorship directives, he would personally order the arrest of X's legal representative in Brazil.
De Moraes did not make these directives public. Instead, he sent secret orders and threats to X's legal representative in Brazil. In response, X chose to publicize the order and announced the closure of its offices in Brazil to avoid any risk to its employees there.
It's important to note that X has made multiple appeals to the Brazilian Supreme Court, all of which have been ignored. The employees of X in Brazil, who are responsible for business operations, do not have the authority to control whether content on the platform is blocked. Thus, the threats from de Moraes, given this context, are seemingly baseless.
On the other hand, de Moraes, representing the Brazilian Supreme Court, has previously demanded that X remove or block certain accounts related to Brazil from the platform or provide more private information about these accounts. X has refused these requests.
This refusal is the primary catalyst for the current situation, where X perceives de Moraes's actions as not following standard legal procedures and not allowing X the opportunity to appeal. Instead, X is being forced to comply with de Moraes or the Brazilian Supreme Court's censorship demands. However, until the end of April 2024, X still complied with the orders issued by the Brazilian Supreme Court. The specifics of the change in circumstances remain unclear.
De Moraes has stated that he is investigating Elon Musk for obstructing justice, but he has not disclosed the secret orders mentioned by X, why he has not made these orders public, or why he has not followed procedures to accept X's appeals.
