Billionaire Musk’s company and the Brazilian judiciary have been arguing for weeks. According to his own statements, X gave in to all of Federal Judge Moraes’ demands – but he is still missing something.
The Supreme Court in Brazil has rejected the immediate lifting of the ban on the short messaging platform X. Tech billionaire Elon Musk’s company can only resume its activities in Brazil if it pays several fines, including one of ten million reais (1.65 million euros), said federal judge Alexandre de Moraes. This penalty was imposed because X did not respect the court-ordered shutdown for two days. Some users in Brazil were able to access the platform despite the nationwide ban.
The company had previously requested that the ban be lifted after the online service’s lawyers had handed over all the requested documents. As requested, X appointed a legal representative for Brazil and blocked the profiles of nine users who are being investigated by the Supreme Federal Court (STF). In addition, a further fine of 18.35 million reais (2.98 million euros) was collected from the bank accounts of Musk’s companies X and Starlink.
The federal judge’s decision stated that both companies still had to give their consent to the transfer and withdraw all legal remedies. In addition, the company’s appointed legal representative had to pay a fine of 300,000 reais (just under 50,000 euros).
X has been shut down in Brazil since the end of August
Federal judge Moraes ordered the shutdown of X in the South American country at the end of August. The news platform had previously allowed a court-imposed deadline to appoint a legal representative to pass. The company also refused to block the accounts of right-wing activists who spread conspiracy narratives and misinformation.
Musk, who has been a prominent supporter of former Republican President Donald Trump in the US election campaign for some time, always presents himself as a defender of free speech. He accused Moraes of an attack on freedom of expression and described him as an “evil dictator.” The federal judge had already initiated an investigation against Musk himself in April for obstruction of justice and incitement to crime.
Source: www.digitalfernsehen.de
