an endless arm wrestling match?

2024-09-20 16:51:07

Blocked on August 30 by the Brazilian Supreme Court for refusing to censor certain content, the social network X, owned by Elon Musk, managed to circumvent this ban on Wednesday, before being suspended again. Why is Brazil the scene of this violent showdown? Analysis.

Aborted coup for X. After briefly resuming service in Brazil despite a blocking obligation, billionaire Elon Musk’s platform had to once again, on Thursday, September 19, submit to the decisions of the Supreme Court by ceasing to be accessible in the country.

“X has stopped using the service” of the cybersecurity company Cloudflare that had allowed him to circumvent the blocking order issued on August 30 by the Supreme Court, announced the Brazilian Association of Internet Service Providers (Abrint). Now, the platform “is blocked” again, it confirmed.

For its part, the group attributed its return to the Brazilian web to an “unintentional technical update” and stated that it would continue to comply with the national ban. This legal saga continues to captivate attention. France 24 details the reasons for this blockage, the various reactions it provokes and looks at the possible consequences.

• Why is X stuck in Brazil?

Tensions between Elon Musk and the Brazilian justice system date back to April, when Judge Alexandre de Moraes opened an investigation against the billionaire, accusing him of having reactivated profiles of influential supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro. X then admitted that some users had managed to circumvent the restrictions.

In recent years, Alexandre de Moraes himself has ordered the blocking of several accounts suspected of spreading disinformation and encouraging an attempted coup after Jair Bolsonaro’s defeat by Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in October 2022. “SOCIAL NETWORKS ARE NOT LAWLESS AREAS!” he stated, using capital letters, in his court ruling.

Faced with X’s refusal to suspend the accounts in question, the judge imposed a fine of more than 200,000 reais (30,000 euros) per day on the platform in mid-August. Elon Musk, refusing to pay, retaliated by closing the company’s offices in Brazil, thus defying the law that requires all companies to have a legal representative in the country.

Result: on August 30, the authorities ordered the total blocking of the platform, affecting some 22 million users, according to the estimate of the specialized site DataReportal. People using a VPN to circumvent this measure face a daily fine of 50,000 reais (around 8,000 euros).

“The blocking of X in Brazil raises the question of the sovereignty of States in the face of digital giants,” analyses Valérie-Laure Benabou, professor of private law at the University of Versailles-Saint-Quentin (UVSQ) on France 24. “Elon Musk decided to consider that X was not breaking the law, and Brazil responded by defending its national interests.”

• What are the reactions of the main parties concerned?

After this decision, Elon Musk castigated the blockage, calling the judge a “dictator”. The Brazilian right, led by Jair Bolsonaro, followed suit, accusing the magistrate of censorship and abuse of power.

For their part, Brazilian X users are divided: a majority (56.5%) perceive a “political motivation” in the judge’s decision and believe that it has “weakened democracy” (54.4%), according to a survey by the AtlasIntel Institute. On the other hand, almost half (49.7%) support Alexandre de Moraes against Elon Musk.

When the platform was re-accessible on Wednesday, former President Jair Bolsonaro, who has shown his closeness to the entrepreneur, was quick to post again on X: “I congratulate all those who have pushed to defend democracy in Brazil,” he wrote, affirming that “by banning the largest social network in the country, it is not a company that has been punished, but millions of Brazilians.”

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On the left, the blocking of X is welcomed, notably by President Lula, who declares that democracy does not mean “the right to lie or spread hatred” and affirms that “sovereignty is not for sale.”

• When and under what conditions will the blockade end?

If he wants to see his social network accessible again in the country, Elon Musk will have to comply with the decisions of the Brazilian courts, including the obligation to appoint a new legal representative in the country and the payment of fines amounting to the equivalent of 3 million euros.

“The sovereignty of the Brazilian justice system allows it to decide to block X. For now, the suspension is in effect, but it is difficult to predict whether it will be definitive,” points out Fabrice Epelboin, entrepreneur and social media specialist. “One thing is certain: Elon Musk will continue to entertain the gallery by taunting the authorities. It’s a real showdown.”

The surprise reappearance of the platform on Wednesday in any case leaves doubts hanging over Elon Musk’s intentions. While X evokes an involuntary maneuver, The Brazilian daily O Estado de São Paulo suggests the hypothesis of a “provocation” orchestrated by the billionaire. For its part, the Brazilian telecommunications agency (Anatel) believes that “the behavior of the X network showed a deliberate intention to circumvent the order of the Supreme Court.” The agency assures that it will take “the necessary measures in the event of new attempts to circumvent the suspension.”

A new twist that shows that Elon Musk is far from backing down in Brazil, in the name of “freedom of expression”. “He uses this concept to justify his economic choices and maximize his profits”, denounces Valérie-Laure Benabou, who believes that the libertarian argument actually hides the lure of gain. “It is time to stop naively believing that the digital giants defend freedom of expression.”

• Is Brazil the first country to ban X on its territory?

Authorities in many countries have used X blocking for a variety of reasons. Some blocks have been temporary, such as in Nigeria, where the former Twitter platform was banned for seven months in 2021, after the president accused it of supporting protests against police violence that were rocking the country. In Turkey, President Erdogan blocked the network in 2014, and again in 2023 after the earthquake in the region of Antakya.

In China, the platform has been banned since it was launched in 2009, two days before the 20th anniversary of the crackdown on pro-democracy protests in Tiananmen Square. Internet users have instead turned to local social networks like Weibo and WeChat.

More recently, the Venezuelan president, whose July re-election is contested, suspended the platform for ten days in August to muzzle the opposition as he faced protests against the official presidential results.

“Suspending social networks in times of crisis is common in dictatorships,” explains Fabrice Epelboin. “What is new is that it is starting to happen in countries that are similar to democracies.” And he adds, with the deletion of pro-Palestinian content or far-right accounts by the Meta group (Facebook, Instagram) in mind: “I fear that excessive censorship could jeopardize our democracy.”

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