Platform failed to meet court-imposed deadline in ongoing case over accounts allegedly spreading disinformation
The social media platform X faces the prospect of a ban in Brazil after failing to meet a court-imposed 24-hour deadline to appoint a legal representative in the country.
The deadline expired at 8.07pm local time on Thursday (0.07am BST on Friday). An hour later, Elon Musk’s social network announced it would not comply.
The dispute began in April when the supreme court judge Alexandre de Moraes ordered the suspension of dozens of accounts for allegedly spreading disinformation – a request Musk has denounced as censorship.
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said in a radio interview on Friday morning: “Just because the guy [Musk] has a lot of money doesn’t mean they can disrespect you … Who does he think he is?”
X, formerly known as Twitter, has been without a legal representative in Brazil since 17 August, when Musk announced that his company was shutting down its operations in the country “effective immediately” due to what it called “censorship orders” from Moraes. The service has remained available to users in the country.
Moraes’ April order to X to block some accounts stemmed from an investigation into “digital militias” who backed former president Jair Bolsonaro’s attempts to stay in power after his 2022 election defeat.
