Elon Musk’s X social network briefly resurfaced in Brazil despite government mandates for Internet service providers (ISPs) to block the platform. The temporary accessibility was made possible by X switching to Cloudflare as its network provider. However, Cloudflare has since made adjustments allowing ISPs to continue blocking X.
According to Ars Technica, X’s Global Government Affairs account stated, “When X was shut down in Brazil, our infrastructure to provide service to Latin America was no longer accessible to our team. To continue providing optimal service to our users, we changed network providers. This change resulted in an inadvertent and temporary service restoration to Brazilian users.” Yet, the Brazilian ISP trade group Abrint suggested the move seemed intentional.
ISPs, including Musk’s Starlink service, have been blocking X under orders from Brazil’s Supreme Court after the platform failed to suspend accounts accused of spreading disinformation. The failure led to Judge Alexandre de Moraes seizing significant funds from Starlink and X accounts. The judge also threatened hefty daily fines for non-compliance.
Following the reappearance of X, de Moraes issued a new order mandating the reinstatement of the block, with a daily penalty exceeding $900,000 for any breach.
Though X’s new network provider was not confirmed in its statement, reports suggest that X began routing traffic through Cloudflare. Initially, this complicated blocking efforts as Cloudflare’s infrastructure supports numerous other sites.
A person familiar with the situation told the Associated Press, “X switched to Cloudflare from another provider, which could be why the block wasn’t working.” Nevertheless, Cloudflare reportedly agreed to isolate X’s traffic, enabling ISPs to target and block X without affecting other websites.
Abrint elaborated that before the switch to Cloudflare, X used specific blockable IPs, but it now employs dynamic IP addresses. The reverse proxy architecture frequently changes these IPs, complicating the blocking process. “Blocking Cloudflare would mean blocking not only X, but a host of other services,” Abrint explained, potentially affecting the entire Internet ecosystem.