Brazil’s Supreme Court has mandated social media platform X (formerly known as Twitter) to pay a daily fine of R$5 million (approximately $900,000 USD) after the platform failed to comply with an order to suspend its operations in Brazil. The court’s decision follows an update reported by Brazil’s National Telecommunications Agency (ANATEL), indicating that X’s application provided users access to the platform, despite a prior suspension order.
ANATEL also received instructions from the court to enforce measures ensuring the application’s suspension within the country. This move includes disabling content delivery networks (CDNs) like Cloudflare, Fastly, EdgeUno, and other servers that facilitated circumvention of the suspension.
The suspension traces back to August when the Supreme Court initially mandated the halt of X’s operations for failing to appoint a local representative, which is a legal requirement in Brazil. The court’s decision was upheld in early September, imposing an additional daily fine of R$50,000 (about $8,900 USD) on individuals and entities using technological means, such as VPNs, to evade the suspension. This situation has spurred considerable public discourse, exemplified by a free speech rally led by former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro.
Justice Alexandre de Moraes temporarily lifted the suspension following a transfer of R$18,350,000 from funds previously frozen in X’s bank accounts to Brazil’s national treasury on September 13. The case originally escalated in April when the court ordered X to remove certain users from the platform without justification, a move X argued violated the Marco Civil da Internet and the Brazilian Constitution. This led to a criminal inquiry into X’s CEO, Elon Musk, by Justice Moraes.
The ongoing legal tension is intricately linked to a broader disinformation inquiry and an investigation into whether former President Bolsonaro attempted to incite a coup following his 2022 election defeat. Justice Moraes has contended that anti-democratic actors have utilized social media platforms and private messaging services to destabilize the country’s democracy.
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