Brazil's top court has upheld an earlier decision to force local operators to block Elon Musk's social network, X, as the dispute between the billionaire and the South American nation widens.
Brazil shuts down access to Elon Musk's X
The long-running dispute centers around Musk's desire to unblock certain X accounts that Brazil's courts have ordered shut down for allegedly spreading false information. Musk — who claims to promote a maximalist definition of free speech — has characterized those orders as the actions of a malevolent rogue judge.
The matter came to a head last week when judge Alexandre de Moraes threatened to block X in the country if the social network did not appoint a compliance officer so that X can answer to local authorities. A deadline for that appointment came and went, and on Saturday night X became unavailable in Brazil.
X also owes outstanding fines in Brazil, and Judge Moraes also issued an order freezing assets owned by Starlink – the satellite broadband service controlled by Musk – so it can make good on those penalties.