Brazil’s Supreme Court announced yesterday that it had ordered banks to transfer funds from Starlink and X accounts to pay fines previously imposed on Elon Musk’s social network X. The satellite operator’s assets were then unfrozen.
Image source: Gerd Altmann / pixabay.com
Supreme Court President Alexandre de Moraes and a five-judge panel ruled that social media platform X had repeatedly violated Brazilian law by refusing to appoint a legal representative in the country and by refusing to remove content or block profiles on the platform that the court deemed a threat to Brazil’s democratic institutions.
A fine was imposed as punishment, but since X did not have the required amount in its accounts, funds from another company owned by Elon Musk, the satellite operator SpaceX Starlink, were used. The court withdrew 18.4 million Brazilian reals, or about $3.3 million, from the accounts of X and Starlink, after which it ordered the unblocking of their assets, since it saw no further need for the restrictive measure. The blocking of the X social network, introduced in late August, remains in force.
Musk and his companies have said they consider Moraes’ actions “illegal” and the rulings to be without due process. Some of the accounts the judge ordered Musk to block on X, according to Brazilian news agency UOL, belong to people who may have made threats to federal police officers involved in an investigation into the former president. He is accused of inciting unrest and attempting to stage a coup d’état. The former Brazilian president, however, allowed Starlink to operate in the country.
Musk has been calling for impeachment proceedings against Judge Moraes since April, and SpaceX Chief Operating Officer Gwynne Shotwell has criticized the official. Supporters of the judge have seen his actions as an expression of Brazilian sovereignty.
If you notice an error, select it with your mouse and press CTRL+ENTER.
Source: 3dnews.ru
