X CLOSES BRAZILIAN OFFICE AMID CENSORSHIP DISPUTE WITH SUPREME COURT JUDGE
X, formerly Twitter, is going to close its office in Brazil over a row involving censorship directions by a Supreme Court judge from Brazil, Alexandre de Moraes.
According to the social media platform, Judge de Moraes had threatened to jail its legal representative in Brazil in case X failed to comply with his censorship orders against some accounts.
The accounts in question, part of many supporting the former right-wing president Jair Bolsonaro, are under investigation for what a judge called probable disinformation.
De Moraes ordered that X disable such accounts he claimed were spreading misinformation while they are being investigated. After X owner Elon Musk criticized the ruling, Judge de Moraes levied a daily fine of 100,000 reais ($19,774 or £15,670) for each account that X reactivated.
He further warned of possible legal liability for the company’s representatives in Brazil in case of such an account restoration. Investigative procedures into Musk himself were opened due to obstruction of justice, further complicating this story.
X released a statement defending its employees in Brazil, stating that they had no say in the moderation of content and that Judge de Moraes should respect the legal process instead of threatening them.
The company said the reason to close the office is to protect staff; the responsibility for crisis belongs to Judge de Moraes alone. X’s statement accused de Moraes of actions that had been far from democratic principles.
He had scathing criticism for de Moraes, saying once and for all that “there is no question that Moraes needs to leave.” He branded the decision to shut down the Brazilian office as strong and necessary, since giving in to de Moraes’s demands would be highly indefensible and against X’s values. Musk’s discourse noted a deeper conflict between operational policies within the platform and the requisites of the local law.
For this reason, Judge de Moraes is a disputed personality among the supporters of Bolsonaro. De Moraes had opened investigations against multiple allies of President Bolsonaro while he was in office, which contributed to keeping alive the tension between the judge and the political right.
The current confrontation mirrors other more profound concerns about the balance among content regulation, legal authority, and operational autonomy for globally operating social media platforms.
