MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

De Moraes says X paid fine to a wrong account

De Moraes will not decide on X's future until he gets a report from the Attorney General's Office

Brazil's Supreme Federal Court (STF) Justice Alexandre De Moraes said Friday that tycoon Elon Musk's social platform X had paid its R$ 28.6 million (US$ 5.24 million) fines to a wrong account and ordered this situation to be solved before allowing the service back, Agencia Brasil reported. X has been banned from South America's largest country since Aug. 30.

De Moraes said the amount had been deposited in a bank different from the Judiciary's Banco do Brasil account. Earlier Friday, the company told the STF that the fine had been paid and requested the platform's unblocking. “There is, therefore, a need to regularize the deposit made by X Brasil Internet LTDA, so that there is effective and full payment of the fines,” the Judge ruled while ordering Caixa to “immediately transfer” the funds to the correct account.

After payment has been regularized, De Moraes instructed Attorney General's Office (PGR) to submit an opinion on X's unblocking request. Only after getting it will De Moraes decide on X's reinstatement. He had ordered the platform offline after the company closed its Brazilian office and no longer had a legal representative in the country, a mandatory condition for any firm to operate.

Musk announced the closure of the company's headquarters in Brazil after the network was fined for refusing to comply with De Moraes' order to take down the profiles of those investigated by the Court for publishing messages considered anti-democratic.

However, X's representation was reactivated in recent weeks, and lawyer Rachel Villa Nova was appointed once again as the network's legal representative. With the reopening of the representation and the payment of the fine, X asked the magistrate to go back online.