The question is whether De Moraes can order the social network to block certain accounts, a request that Musk denounces as censorship.
Brazilian Supreme Court Judge Alexandre de Moraes has decided to block billionaire Elon Musk's Starlink financial accounts as an ongoing dispute leaves his social media platform X on the verge of being taken down in the country.
Starlink confirmed on Thursday that it had received a judge's order preventing the company from conducting financial transactions in Brazil and said in a post on X that it would address the order legally.
De Moraes' decision on Thursday to sanction Starlink, the satellite broadband unit of Musk's SpaceX, is a response to the lack of legal representatives in Brazil for the social network X, a Supreme Court source told Reuters news agency.
Musk said De Moraes “is a criminal of the worst kind, who pretends to be a judge” in response to a post on the subject.
Starlink said in its post X that de Moraes had issued the order “in secret and without affording Starlink any of the due process guaranteed by the Brazilian Constitution.”
The question is whether De Moraes can order the social network to block certain accounts accused of spreading lies and distortions, a request that Musk has denounced as censorship.
De Moraes on Wednesday night ordered Musk to appoint a legal representative for X, formerly known as Twitter, in Brazil within 24 hours or face suspension in the country.
Earlier this month, X announced it would shut down operations and lay off staff in Latin America's largest economy due to what it called “censorship orders” from De Moraes, while keeping its service available to Brazilian users.
At the time, X claimed that de Moraes secretly threatened one of the company's legal representatives in Brazil with arrest if he did not comply with legal orders to remove some content from his platform.
In Wednesday's ruling on X, de Moraes said that under the country's law governing Internet issues, companies that fail to respect Brazilian law or the confidentiality of private information could have their activities temporarily suspended.
The Supreme Court posted a screenshot of Wednesday's court decision on its X account, labeling Musk's and X's Global Government Affairs accounts.
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Thursday’s move is the latest development in a months-long feud between Musk and de Moraes, who has led a crackdown on disinformation and misinformation in the nation of more than 200 million people and ordered the suspension of more than 100 X accounts in recent years.
Some of them belong to supporters of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who lost the 2022 election to Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva after spreading unsubstantiated claims that Brazil's electronic voting machines are prone to fraud.
In April, de Moraes accused Musk of waging a “disinformation campaign” and disrespecting Brazil’s sovereignty after the Tesla CEO decided to stop complying with court orders to block certain X accounts.
Musk, a self-proclaimed free speech absolutist, has accused de Moraes of stifling free speech and violating Brazil's constitution.
