Brazil Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes has opened a criminal inquiry into business magnate Elon Musk, owner of a company referred to as ‘X’, following potential obstruction of justice and incitement charges. This comes on the heels of Musk’s disregard for a previous Supreme Court order insisting upon blocking access to undisclosed accounts.
This judicial action forms part of a broader landscape, where an ongoing disinformation inquiry and an investigation into alleged coup attempts by former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro are taking centre stage.
In Moraes’ viewpoint, social media platforms and private messaging services have been weaponized by anti-democratic elements to destabilize Brazil’s democracy. He noted the criminal liability might extend to social media administrators if they actively participated or inspired anti-democratic activities.
Justice Moraes criticized Musk’s decision to overrule the court-ordered restrictions on specific X accounts, considering it an “obstruction to justice” integral to a “disinformation campaign”. Consequently, Musk has now been enlisted in the ongoing disinformation investigation and a newly spawned criminal inquiry. To put a cap on any future disobedience of court orders by X, Moraes declared daily fines of R$ 100,000.00 per unblocked, proscribed profile.
Yet Musk publicly lambasted the imposed restrictions, describing them as “the most draconian demands of any country on Earth”. The X owner also called for impeachment of Moraes and echoed assertions that the justice’s decisions contradicted Brazil’s Internet Civil Framework and Federal Constitution.
Brazil’s Federal Police commenced investigations into the malicious contributions of anti-democratic entities in the country’s disinformation propagation in 2021. Simultaneously, the Supreme Court has been focusing its attention on the January 8, 2023, incident where Bolsonaro’s supporters stormed the Brazilian Congressional buildings, incited by the ex-President’s unproven claims of fraud. This incident occurred merely one week following the inauguration of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
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