Musk’s X shuts down Brazil operation after judge blasted for censorship

The social media platform X will close its office in Brazil amidst a legal battle with the South American nation’s Supreme Court over a purported secret order to remove some posts from the site in Brazil, according to a statement posted by the company on X. 

Users in Brazil will still be able to use the social media site. 

“The decision to close the 𝕏 office in Brazil was difficult, but, if we had agreed to @alexandre’s (illegal) secret censorship and private information handover demands, there was no way we could explain our actions without being ashamed,” Musk wrote on X. 

X posted a screenshot of the order from Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who has been investigating digital militias that have been accused of spreading fake news and hate messages during the government of far-right former President Jair Bolsanaro. 

As part of the alleged order, Moraes said he would levy a daily fine of $3,650 and an arrest decree against X representative Rachel Nova Conceicao if the platform does not comply with Moreas’s order. 

“Last night, Alexandre de Moraes threatened our legal representative in Brazil with arrest if we do not comply with his censorship orders. He did so in a secret order, which we share here to expose his actions,” the company wrote on X. 

“Despite our numerous appeals to the Supreme Court not being heard, the Brazilian public not being informed about these orders and our Brazilian staff having no responsibility or control over whether content is blocked on our platform, Moraes has chosen to threaten our staff in Brazil rather than respect the law or due process,” they added. 

The company added that it is “deeply saddened” that it had “been forced,” but the responsibility “lies solely with Alexandre de Moraes.” 

Earlier in the year, Moraes directed X to block some of those accounts. X complied and then Musk said he would reactivate the accounts on X that the judge had ordered blocked. Musk called Moraes’s decision regarding X “unconstitutional.” 

After Musk made his statements, X representatives reversed course and told Brazil’s Supreme Court that they would comply with the legal rulings. 

The Brazilian Supreme Court declined to comment to Reuters about the allegations made by X and did not confirm the veracity of the image posted by the social media company. 

After deciding to shutter X’s Brazil operations, Musk also posted on X that Moraes “needs to leave.” 

“No question that Moraes needs to leave,” Musk wrote. “Having a ‘justice’ who repeatedly and egregiously violates the law is no justice at all.”

Nikolas Ferreira, a member of Brazil’s chamber of deputies and prominent right-wing politician on social media, said that Brazil will “take to the streets” to demand Moraes’s impeachment. 

“On September 7th, Brazil will take to the streets in São Paulo to demand the impeachment of Alexandre de Moraes,” he wrote. “@elonmusk, you are invited.” 

Musk retweeted Ferreira’s post.