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Millions of users across Brazil are unable to access social media platform X after it was blocked in the country due to its failure to follow a court order to appoint a legal representative.
Elon Musk, the owner of X, decided last month (August 17) to shut down the network’s Brazil operation after Judge Alexandre de Moraes threatened its legal representative in the country with fines and arrest if the platform did not comply with court orders.
The judge then ordered X to appoint a new legal representative within the country or face the platform being banned across Brazil. X failed to comply, and on Friday the judge ordered “immediate, complete and total suspension of X’s operations” in Brazil, “until all court orders … are complied with, fines are duly paid, and a new legal representative for the company is appointed in the country” (translated with Google Translate).
In the ruling, Moraes said that Elon Musk is attempting to place X “outside the law”, and acting as though social networks are a “no man’s land” where he allows the “massive propagation” of misinformation, hate speech, and anti-democratic attacks.
The consequences of X being banned in Brazil
Brazil had over 21.48 million X users as of April 2024, all of whom are now being prevented from accessing the platform.
When a user in Brazil attempts to access the site they are met with a connectivity error message.
Rival platform BlueSky reported that it has gained over a million new members in the days since X’s shutdown. It posted a welcome message in Portuguese.
The social network also posted a tongue-in-cheek message on X.
this is what a social network looks like without brazilhttps://t.co/x6v5YW0WFT pic.twitter.com/wHUEtogtg5
— bluesky (@bluesky) August 30, 2024
Elon Musk has taken to X to post about the events, along with insults and accusations about Judge Moraes. “There is growing evidence that fake judge @Alexandre engaged in serious, repeated & deliberate election interference in Brazil’s last presidential election,” he wrote.
There is growing evidence that fake judge @Alexandre engaged in serious, repeated & deliberate election interference in Brazil’s last presidential election.
Under Brazilian law, that would mean up to 20 years in prison.
And, I’m sorry to say that it appears that some former…
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 1, 2024
X has also launched a new ‘official’ account called the Alexandre Files, where they claim they will “reveal the unlawful directives issued to X by Alexandre de Moraes.”
Many Brazilian users are turning to location-obscuring virtual private networks (VPNs) to access the site, with Google searches for ‘vpn’ in the South American nation spiking in recent weeks. However, part of Moraes’ ruling states that anyone attempting to circumvent the ban by using “technological subterfuge” such as a VPN, will be subject to a daily fine of up to R$50,000 (around $8,900 USD).
Featured image credit: generated with Ideogram
