MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Musk's social platform to disregard Brazilian Court's orders to suspend users posting alleged fake news?

De Moraes (L) should be impeached, Musk (R) stressed

Business mogul Elon Musk, owner of the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, has taken on Brazilian Supreme Federal Court (STF) Justice Alexandre De Moraes for wanting to censor content spread via the internet. “Why are you demanding so much censorship in Brazil?,” Musk asked the magistrate.

Last week, Brazil's Public Prosecutor's Office sent notes to the local X offices requesting the removal of publications believed to constitute fake news linked to the Covid-19 pandemic. The Court also requested some information about people calling for the arrest of STF Judge Luís Roberto Barroso.

Musk has been reported to be considering restoring to their previous owners all the X accounts suspended at the request of the Judiciary.

Parliamentarians affected by the Superior Electoral Court (TSE) and STF measures, such as deputies Marcel Van Hattem (Novo-RS) and Gustavo Gayer (PL-GO) celebrated Musk's stance of “lifting all restrictions.”

”This judge (De Moraes) imposed heavy fines, threatened to arrest our employees, and cut off access to X in Brazil,“ Musk argued. ”As a result, we will probably lose all revenue in Brazil and have to close our office there,“ he added while insisting that ”principles matter more than profit.“

The platform's institutional relations department also said Saturday that the company had been forced to block popular accounts in Brazil without knowing the reasons for it, X was also banned from saying which court or judge had ordered these bans or face penalties. X believes that De Moraes' decisions were not in line with the law governing the internet in Brazil or even with the country's Constitution. ”The Brazilian people have the right to freedom of expression,” X said in a statement.

As the scandal pitting Musk against De Moraes gains wider international repercussions, Workers' Party (PT) Chairwoman Gleisi Hoffmann spoke Monday against Musk's plans to disobey the judge. The PT is the political force of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and a leading member of the ruling coalition.

Congresswoman Hoffmann said Musk that “the undue and abusive manifestations of US billionaire Elon Musk, owner of the X platform, are an attack on Brazilian sovereignty and deserve the most vehement repudiation.”

Musk “directly threatens the democratic rule of law and institutions in our country” due to the attacks against Justice and the Electoral Court, she went on.

The controversy between X and the magistrate broke out when the tycoon said De Moraes sought to impose censorship in Brazil by blocking some X profiles for allegedly disseminating false news. Musk argued that his company would not pay attention to the magistrate's request despite the potential fines and even the need to shut down its operations in the South American country.

“Shortly X will publish everything demanded by the magistrate and how those requests violate Brazilian law. That judge has brazenly and repeatedly betrayed the Constitution and the people of Brazil. He should resign or be impeached,” wrote Musk.

According to Hoffmann, Musk's arrogance served the narrative of former President Jair Bolsonaro, who is the subject of many investigations and court rulings in which De Moraes is involved.

Musk's attacks “configure a totally out of place interference in the political life and democracy in our country” and evidence that social networks have to be submitted to a clear regulation, Hoffmann insisted.