Brazilian Supreme Court Upholds X Ban

Matthew Broersma,
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Brazilian Supreme Court justices uphold ban on X amidst row over banned accounts and compliance with court orders

Brazilian Supreme Court justices have upheld a ban on X, formerly Twitter, that went into effect on Saturday.

Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who ordered the ban, called for the the five-member panel of judges to rule on the measure.

The justices unanimously voted in favour of the measure, meaning the ban will stay in place.

One of the Supreme Court judges, Justice Flávio Dino, linked the ban to “responsibility”.

Brazil Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes. Image credit: Brazil federal government
Brazil Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes. Image credit: Brazil federal government

‘Responsibility’

“Freedom of expression is closely linked to a duty of responsibility,” said Justice Dino.

“The first can’t exist without the second, and vice-versa.”

X owner Elon Musk said earlier that Moraes was “destroying” free speech for “political purposes”.

Moraes banned X on Friday after the company refused to meet a deadline for appointing a legal representative in the country, a requirement for foreign firms doing business in Brazil.

He gave companies including Google and Apple five days to remove X from their app stores and to block its use on iOS and Android.

Individuals and organisations found to be using a VPN to access the app would be liable for a daily fine of 50,000 reais ($8,900, £6,770), he said.

Alternatives

The ban saw error messages displayed on the web service and posts failing to load on the mobile app.

Brazil is X’s fifth-largest market outside the US, after Japan, India, Indonesia and the UK, with more than 20 million users on the platform, according to Statista.

Users have been turning to other platforms, with Bluesky saying on Saturday it registered a record half-million new users in the country over the previous two days.

Brazil president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on Thursday posted a list of his other social media accounts, with Bluesky at the top, followed by Instagram, WhatsApp, Threads, TikTok and Facebook.

Court probe

In April Moraes ordered X accounts to be shut down while they are investigated for spreading misinformation.

The probe is part of a broader investigation into an alleged coup attempt by supporters of former president Jair Bolsonaro following his election loss in 2022, and its support by online “digital militias”.

X owner Musk threatened to reactivate the accounts and has called Moraes a “tyrant” and a “dictator”.

On 17 August X closed its office in Brazil due after he said the court had made efforts to hold its legal representative in the country personally responsible for non-compliance with the account suspension orders.