Following a judge’s order to suspend access to the social network in Brazil, the South African tycoon’s satellite Internet company had refused to comply with the measure.
Elon Musk was involved in an intense legal battle with the Brazilian courts over one of his companies, x formerly known as Twitter.
The conflict began brewing in April this year, but escalated last week after a judge in Brazil ordered the immediate blockade of the social network until he complies with outstanding court orders.
It was a major blow for the South African tycoon’s famous platform. With its 21.5 million users, Brazil is the sixth largest market in the world for X, as indicated by the data and statistics portal Statist .
Why a judge ordered the blocking of X in Brazil
On August 8, the judge of the Federal Supreme Court (STF) of Brazil, Alexander de Moraes ordered the Suspension of a series of profiles on Elon Musk’s network that were allegedly dedicated to spreading disinformation and hate messages . According to Washington Post The accounts that were requested to be blocked belonged to far-right businessmen, bloggers and former politicians.
If he does not comply with this order, Moraes assured that the representative of X in Brazil could be fined 20,000 reais (nearly 3,600 dollars) per day.
The top judge’s decision was not new to him. In recent years, he has asked other popular social networks – Facebook and Telegram – to suspend influential accounts that spread content that could threaten democracy, many of them linked to supporters of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro.
Following the judge’s decision, the founder of other companies such as SpaceX and Tesla argued that “freedom of expression is the basis of democracy and an unelected pseudo-judge in Brazil is destroying it for political purposes.”
The conflict escalated on August 17, when Musk announced the immediate closure of X’s offices in Brazil and fired all of its employees, including the company’s legal representative in that country. The billionaire accused Moraes’ demands of forcing him to “secretly violate Brazilian, Argentine, U.S. and international laws.”
In response, on August 28, Moraes summoned Musk so that he could appoint a legal representative in Brazil within 24 hours. But the South African tycoon refused to comply.
Two days later, the magistrate ordered the definitive blocking of the social network throughout Brazil, in retaliation for Musk’s contempt.
How Elon Musk Used Starlink to Bypass Brazil’s X Suspension
After Moraes ordered the platform to be shut down in the country and a panel of judges from Brazil’s Supreme Court unanimously ratified the decision, Musk suggested on his networks that Brazilians should use alternatives such as VPN to continue using the social network. It is a tool that allows you to connect to the Internet through a server located in another country.
But then the tycoon took the conflict to the next level: he decided to call on another of his companies, star link to avoid the court order.
Starlink is the tycoon’s satellite internet provider and has 225,000 customers in Brazil alone. according to the portal G1 .
The company assured that it would not be willing to comply with the court order suspending X until all of his bank accounts had been unfrozen. By operating via satellite, it does not have its infrastructure in that country, so it can technically refuse to suspend X.
Starlink’s decision was confirmed by the president of National Telecommunications Agency (Anatel) Carlos Baigorri, the regulatory body responsible for notifying telecommunications companies of the suspension of the social networking service.
From Starlink, they also claimed that Judge Moraes blocked their local accounts and prevented them from making transactions in order to guarantee the payment of the fines accumulated by the social network, which they claim is illegal, since they are two independent companies.
“This order is based on an unfounded determination that Starlink should be liable for fines unconstitutionally imposed against us. We intend to resolve this matter legally,” they said in a statement.
According to The New York Times , As of Sunday night, the social network remained suspended throughout Brazil, but Starlink customers continued to have access to it.
Starlink’s decision
On Tuesday this week, Starlink announced that it would finally comply with the court order to suspend access to X in the Latin American country.
Through a publication on the same social network, the satellite Internet company assured that it had initiated legal proceedings before the Federal Supreme Court of Brazil regarding the “serious illegality” of Moraes requesting to freeze his bank accounts and prevent his financial transactions in the country.
“Regardless of the illegal treatment given to Starlink in the freezing of our assets, we comply with the order to block access to X in Brazil,” they said in the post.
The company also added that it would continue to pursue all possible legal avenues, “like others who agree that Alexandre’s recent orders violate the Brazilian constitution.”
Before this announcement, the president of Anatel had declared on the television program Estúdio I that The company risked losing its authorization to provide services in Brazil if it was confirmed, with evidence, that it had violated X’s suspension. .
“The law of administrative procedure is respected. The possible sanctions are those provided for by the general law on telecommunications, starting with a reprimand, sanctioning a fine and then the withdrawal of the subsidy,” he said on the show. “By losing the subsidy, (Starlink) loses the authorization to provide telecommunications services in Brazil” .
Source: Latercera
I am Robert Harris and I specialize in news media. My experience has been focused on sports journalism, particularly within the Rugby sector. I have written for various news websites in the past and currently work as an author for Athletistic, covering all things related to Rugby news.
