Tech billionaire Elon Musk’s dispute with Brazilian authorities continues. The owner of social network X submitted an account over the weekend accusing Brazilian judge Alexandre de Moraes of violating the constitution when he ordered X to be blocked in Brazil. In addition, Musk-owned satellite internet provider Starlink announced that it would not comply with the Brazilian judiciary’s decision to block access to X in Brazil.
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Federal Judge de Moraes of the Brazilian Supreme Court ordered the ban late last week. He accused the service of not taking decisive action against the spread of hate speech and fake news. For several weeks, Musk refused to comply with Brazilian court orders to block some X accounts and ignored the fines imposed. In mid-August, he closed X’s office in Brazil and dismissed the remaining employees so that the courts could not hold him accountable.
X attacks the judge in charge
The ruling blocking it applies, among other things, to the removal of illegal content. This Monday, a five-member panel of the Supreme Court confirmed the closure of the social media platform X in Brazil. As reported by Bloomberg news agency,
But Elon Musk seems far from relenting in this controversy. The X-owned account @alexandrefiles posted an image of an order from Brazil’s Supreme Court ordering the social network to suspend several accounts and suspend the monetization that X offers to its users who pay a monthly fee. “Today we are launching an investigation into the violations of Brazilian law committed by Alexandre de Moraes,” the account’s introductory message read. “We are forced to disseminate these orders because there is no transparency on the part of the court and those affected by the censorship have no opportunity to seek legal redress,” it added.
Starlink does not want to enforce the court order
The debate escalated over the weekend. Musk-controlled satellite internet service Starlink told Brazil’s telecoms regulator Anatel that it would not comply with orders blocking X until Brazilian authorities release Starlink’s frozen assets. Anatel Chairman Carlos Baigorri made this public in a TV interview. At the same time that X was blocked, Judge de Moraes ordered that all Starlink assets in the country be seized. He did so in an attempt to collect outstanding fines totaling more than $3 million. While some experts consider the actions against Starlink suspicious, Brazil’s Supreme Court quickly rejected the satellite provider’s appeal to release the assets. In turn, Musk responded with a series of insults against de Moraes; he described the financial sanctions against Starlink as “absolutely illegal.”
Anatel Chairman Baigorri threatened to revoke Starlink’s license to operate in Brazil, which would prevent the company from offering connections to its Brazilian customers. If Starlink tries to offer its services in Brazil without a license, Anatel could seize Starlink’s equipment in Brazil’s 23 ground stations, Baigorri threatened in a TV interview.
deterioration of relationships
Not long ago, Starlink was a very welcome business partner in Brazil. Under far-right President Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil negotiated with SpaceX to bring Starlink internet to the Amazon. The government wanted the company to provide satellite internet in the Amazon rainforest and help detect illegal deforestation.
Starlink has been active in Brazil since 2022 and, according to the American daily New York Times, currently has 250,000 subscribers in the country. Musk himself claims to have provided internet to 19,000 schools in Brazil. One thing is certain: the service now connects rural and even the most remote areas to the internet. This has reportedly resulted in problems among indigenous communities in the Amazon rainforest that are not unknown to us.
Elon Musk against Brazil’s judiciary
But now Starlink is increasingly caught between the fronts of Elon Musk’s dispute with the Brazilian judiciary. They have been investigating the so-called “digital militia” for some time, led by Judge de Moraes. They are accused of spreading misinformation, hate speech and posing a threat to democracy during Bolsonaro’s tenure. Various decisions have resulted in the blocking of several accounts on the digital network in recent years.
But it is not only Platform X that is affected. Brazilian judges have blocked the messaging service WhatsApp several times before because the company, which belongs to Meta, did not comply with court and police instructions. In 2022 de Moraes also threatened to shut down the Telegram messenger service in Brazil. He had also repeatedly ignored requests to delete profiles and hand over user data.
The dispute between Musk and the Brazilian courts has a different quality. It also “reflects the enormous power of Mr Musk and his business empire,” The New York Times writes. “After building or buying leading companies that have more control over the way people connect and communicate with each other, Mr. Musk is using that influence to attack authorities and challenge laws he doesn’t like.”
(AKN)
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