The social media platform says the shutdown will be “effective immediately,” but Brazilian users will still have access to X.
Social media giant X has announced it will shut down its operations in Brazil following a legal dispute with a top Brazilian judge over the platform's rights and responsibilities in countering disinformation.
The platform, formerly known as Twitter, said on Saturday that the shutdown was “effective immediately” but that Brazilian users would still have access to X.
“We are deeply saddened to have been forced to take this decision,” the company said, adding that responsibility for the decision “lies solely” with Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes.
The move is the apparent culmination of an ongoing legal battle between Moraes, who has said he is trying to combat the spread of misinformation online, and Elon Musk, the billionaire owner of X.
Earlier this year, Moraes ordered X to block certain accounts accused of spreading fake news and hate speech, including some belonging to supporters of Brazil's far-right former president Jair Bolsonaro.
Bolsonaro repeatedly spread false claims that Brazil's electronic voting system was vulnerable to fraud ahead of a closely contested 2022 election.
Months after being defeated by leftist President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, a mob of Bolsonaro supporters stormed the South American country's main state institutions angry at the results.
“Freedom of expression does not mean freedom of aggression,” said Moraes, who heads Brazil’s Supreme Electoral Court.
“It does not mean freedom to defend tyranny.”
At the request of “Justice” @Alexander In Brazil, that would require us to (secretly) break Brazilian, Argentine, American and international laws, and we have no choice but to close our local operations in Brazil.
It is a complete disgrace to justice.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 17, 2024
On Saturday, X claimed that 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.
The social media giant posted images of a document purportedly signed by Moraes that says a daily fine of 20,000 reais ($3,653) and an arrest warrant would be imposed against X's manager, Rachel Nova Conceicao, if the platform does not fully comply with Moraes' orders.
Brazil's Supreme Court told Reuters it would not rule on the matter and would neither confirm nor deny the authenticity of the document shared by X.
In another social media post on Saturday, Musk called Moraes “a complete disgrace to justice.”
“The decision to close X’s office in Brazil was a difficult one,” Musk said, adding that if the company had complied with the judge’s orders, “there would be no way we could explain our actions without feeling ashamed.”
Moraes launched an investigation into the billionaire earlier this year after Musk said he would reactivate accounts on X that the judge had ordered blocked.
Following Musk's challenges, X's representatives changed their stance and told Brazil's Supreme Court that the social media giant would comply with the legal rulings.
Lawyers representing X in Brazil told the Supreme Court in April that “operational failures” had allowed users it had ordered to block to remain active on the platform, after Moraes asked X to explain why it had allegedly failed to fully comply with his rulings.
