The biggest match today is between X and Brazil.
X, formerly known as Twitter, announced on Saturday that it would “immediately” suspend its operations in Brazil due to a “censorship order” from Brazilian Judge Alexandre de Moraes. In what X described as a “censorship order,” Judge de Moraes had privately threatened X CEO Rachel Nova Conceição with arrest unless she agreed to remove some content from the site.
“Last night, Alexandre de Moraes threatened our legal representative in Brazil with arrest if he did not comply with the censorship order. He issued the order in secret and we are publishing it here to expose his actions,” X said in a statement on its site. “Despite our multiple appeals to the Supreme Court going unheard, the Brazilian public is not informed about these orders, and our Brazilian staff have no responsibility or control over whether content is blocked on our platform, de Moraes has chosen to threaten our Brazilian staff rather than respect the law and due process.”
Although X decided to close its operations in Brazil, its social media sites will remain available in the country. Mashable has not confirmed the validity of the document shared by X, and Brazil’s Supreme Court has not confirmed or denied its authenticity to Reuters.
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“We are deeply saddened that we have been forced to take this decision. The responsibility lies solely with Alexandre de Moraes,” the post continued. “His actions are incompatible with democratic politics. The Brazilian people are being forced to choose between democracy and Alexandre de Moraes.”
The tweet may have been deleted
Along with its statement, X posted a photo of a document that De Moraes allegedly sent to X, which stated that X would be fined 20,000 reals ($3,653) per day if it did not comply with De Moraes’ orders. Additionally, the document stated that X’s representative, Rachel Nova Conceição, could be arrested.
This dispute, particularly between X owner Elon Musk and De Moraes, is nothing new. According to Engadget, Musk said in April that he wouldn’t comply with a Brazilian order to block certain accounts, which resulted in De Moraes opening an obstruction of justice investigation against Musk. X changed its stance and later said it would comply with Brazil’s orders.
This comes after the U.S. House Judiciary Committee alleged that Brazil is trying to force X to censor hundreds of accounts, including those of former Brazilian President Jair Messias Bolsonaro, current Brazilian senator Marcos do Val, and Brazilian journalist Paulo Figueiredo Filho.
