Elon Musk complies with Brazilian supreme court: X aims to ensure compliance

Elon Musk has decided, after months of resistance, to comply with court rulings in Brazil. This move aims to conclude a prolonged confrontation that has led to multi-million dollar fines and the prohibition of his social network X in the largest economy of Latin America. Last Friday, X appointed a legal representative in the country to meet a deadline set by the Supreme Court and lift the ban on the social media platform that has been in effect since August 30, according to a court document. The company, formerly known as Twitter, also informed the court that it had followed previous orders and suspended accounts allegedly responsible for spreading hate speech and fake news. Judge Alexandre de Moraes gave X a five-day deadline to provide further information about its legal representation. Additionally, the court clerk was given 48 hours to verify if earlier orders had been honored. Afterward, the court can decide whether to allow X to operate in Brazil again. According to a statement from the law firm hired by X, 'clarifications and information in response to Moraes’ order' were submitted to the court. The new representative of X in Brazil is Rachel de Oliveira Villa Nova Conceição, as stated in a court document first reported by CNN Brasil. Although X informed the Supreme Court on Wednesday that it had appointed two lawyers in the country, Moraes gave the company a 24-hour deadline to provide proof. This deadline ended on Friday at 9:29 pm local time. In April, Musk had announced that he would not follow Moraes’ directives, who leads a judicial campaign against hate speech and fake news, and would allow certain accounts in Brazil to remain active. The world's richest man accused the judge of censorship, while Moraes initiated a criminal investigation against Musk, accusing him of spreading disinformation. This week, the platform suddenly became accessible again for Brazilian users after an automatic update changed how traffic was routed, as reported by the country’s internet service providers association. Moraes ordered that X must restore the blockage of its site by September 19, failing which daily fines of 5 million Reais (907,000 USD) would be imposed. A spokesperson for X stated late on September 18 that a change in network providers after the ban had led to an 'unintentional and temporary restoration of the service for Brazilian users.' On September 19, Brazil’s telecommunications regulatory agency declared that X's behavior demonstrated a 'deliberate disregard for the Supreme Court’s order' and that 'any new attempts to circumvent the ban would prompt appropriate regulatory measures.' On Saturday, Moraes set a 48-hour deadline for the Federal Police and the Brazilian telecommunications agency to provide reports on the accessibility of X so that a fine could be calculated. In the past week, Brazil withdrew 18.35 million Reais from local bank accounts of X and the satellite internet provider Starlink to pay the fines imposed by the Supreme Court. Moraes had frozen Starlink’s accounts to force the U.S. technology company to pay the penalties.