Elon Musk, the founder of Tesla, SpaceX, and X Corp., increased his online attacks on Brazilian Supreme Court justice Alexandre de Moraes on Thursday. This came amid a growing legal and political dispute between the tech tycoon, his businesses, and Brazil’s highest court.
On Wednesday, the court of De Moraes declared that Musk and X Corp. would have to designate a Brazilian legal agent for the social media giant, which was previously known as Twitter, within a day or else X would be subject to a “penalty of suspension of activities.”
A ban of X in Brazil would put the already troubled social network in considerable financial jeopardy. Oosga’s market analysis indicates that there are over 171 million active social media users in Brazil.
The country is getting ready for the local elections in October. Furthermore, social networks operating in Brazil are required by law to hire a person qualified to receive and evaluate takedown notices about political misinformation from the government.
Since the corporation announced earlier this month that it was evacuating all of its staff from Brazil, X does not have any such employees there.
Musk uploaded a Photoshopped picture on Wednesday night that seemed to depict the judge behind prison. “Alexandre, this photo of you in jail will come true one day. To de Moraes and his 195.8 million reported followers on X, Musk tweeted, “Mark my words.”
De Moraes ordered “the freezing of all financial assets” of Musk’s firms in Brazil, including SpaceX-owned Starlink, according to reports from G1 Globo on Thursday. This was done to “guarantee the payment of fines” the court had imposed against X.
The company claimed in a statement late on Wednesday, “Judge @alexandre de Moraes of Brazil’s Supreme Court issued an order earlier this week that freezes Starlink’s funds and prohibits it from carrying out financial operations in that nation.”
“This order is founded on an erroneous assumption that Starlink ought to bear the consequences of the fines assessed—in violation of the Constitution—against X,” the business stated. It was released covertly and without providing Starlink with the due process of law that the Brazilian Constitution assures. We plan to take legal action in this regard.
SpaceX runs the satellite internet service Starlink. It is currently authorized for use in commerce in 105 nations, including Brazil. Under Musk’s direction, Starlink has promoted X, and Musk has urged Brazilians to utilize Starlink to access X.
When CNBC asked Musk, X Corp. CEO Linda Yaccarino, and SpaceX representatives for more information on Thursday afternoon, they did not reply.
In a post on X on Thursday, Musk referred to de Moraes as “an outright criminal” who is merely “masquerading as a judge.” “The tyrant, @Alexandre, is the dictator of Brazil,” he went on. Lula is his lapdog,” the statement reads, alluding to Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the man who defeated far-right former president Jair Bolsonaro to win the presidency of Brazil in 2022.
Bolsonaro has been a longstanding supporter of Musk; during his presidency, he was permitted to run Starlink in Brazil and was given a medal for his services to the nation. Right-wing Bolsonaro followers have taken a shine to the tech billionaire.
De Moraes’s detractors see him as going above his authority and acting as a censor. His court’s attempts to stop damaging falsehoods online in Brazil are applauded by supporters.
De Moraes opened a probe into Musk and X Corp. earlier this year on April 7 due to allegations of obstruction of justice.
By April 15, attorneys for the social network informed the Brazil Supreme Court that they would genuinely abide by the court’s orders, despite Musk’s earlier declaration that he would disobey the court’s orders to ban or suspend certain well-known accounts on X.
As part of a larger investigation into so-called digital militias in Brazil—individuals charged with disseminating false material online to harm the nation’s democratic institutions—De Moraes’ court is also looking into Musk and X.
The Judiciary Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives subpoenaed X Corp. to provide information on content moderation orders from a Brazilian court. Aware of censorship, the Republican-controlled committee disclosed evidence regarding court orders from Brazil that X was asked to comply with to suspend or delete roughly 150 user accounts from its platform in the last few years.