Musk has taken digs at the judge online since April, when X said it was forced to block particular popular accounts in Brazil.
Topline
Elon Musk said Saturday that X, formerly known as Twitter, will be closing the platform’s operations in Brazil after X claimed top Brazilian judge Alexandre de Moraes threatened to arrest a legal representative for the platform—an escalation in an ongoing dispute between Musk and Moraes.Key Facts
Tension between Musk and Moraes first materialized in April, when X’s global government affairs page said it was forced to “block certain popular accounts” in Brazil without knowing the reason behind the block orders and what posts violated Brazilian law.
Moraes ordered X to block particular accounts as part of an investigation into “digital militias” accused of spreading disinformation and divisive messaging, The Guardian reported.
X’s government affairs page said it was barred from disclosing what court or judge issued the order, though Musk directly tagged Moraes in a follow up post and later said X was asked to suspend sitting members of Brazil’s parliament and major journalists, and had to pretend it suspended them over X’s own rules.
Musk later posted a string of tweets calling the legal orders “the most draconian demands of any country” on the planet, calling for Moraes’ resignation and claiming Moraes applied massive fines and threatened to cut off Brazilians’ access to X—which Musk said could result in the platform losing all revenue in the country and force it to shut down its Brazil office.
