Since the early hours of Saturday, August 31, a client of Vivo, Of course y Heythe main ones operators in Brazilreported the fall of Xwhich he also could not access EFE.
Judge Alexandre de Moraes of the Supreme Federal Court (STF), who has been engaged in a battle with Elon Musk for months over the limits of freedom of expression, ordered on the afternoon of August 30 the suspension of Xafter the owner of the social network failed to appoint a legal representative for the platform in Brazil within 24 hours.
Moraes issued an order to the National Telecommunications Agency (Anatel, regulatory body) to adopt the measures necessary to implement the decision against X.
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In addition, the judge established Daily fines of almost US$ 9 thousand dollars to those who try to access X through Virtual Private Network (VPN), a tool that creates a secure connection between a device and the Internet, used to protect online privacy.
Initially, Moraes also requested Apple y Google adopt impediments to the use of VPN by systems iOS y Androidin addition to removing it from its virtual stores; however, it later gave up in the face of the possibility that X Brasil would make a statement and decide to fully comply with the court orders.
Those who try to enter the portal encounter a message that It asks them to reload the browser without them being able to log in. successfully. The application, on its side, no longer generates new content or allows interactions.
According to Anatel, in Brazil there are Nearly 20 thousand operators must prevent access to users of all X services.
Also read: Nicolás Maduro orders the removal of social network X from Venezuela within 10 days to “enforce the laws”
In response to Judge Moraes’ decision, the businessman wrote: “Freedom of expression is the basis of democracy and an unelected pseudo-judge in Brazil is destroying it for political purposes,” he also called him an “evil dictator.”
For his part, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva questioned the Musk’s disrespect for the Brazilian legal system and promoted his accounts on other social networks, including Blueskywhich reported a “huge influx” of new users from Brazil.
Reason for suspension
The decision to suspend access to X in Brazil is associated with a investigation into the dissemination of false news which includes Musk under suspicion of obstruction of justice, criminal organization and incitement to commit a crime.
Moraes said that he made this decision due to the failure to comply with court orders by X and for the attempt not to submit to the Brazilian legal system with the intention of “create an environment of impunity and lawlessness”.
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In this regard, he ordered the immediate suspension until all court orders are complied with and the multi-million dollar fines are paid imposed on X.
A few months ago, the judge demanded delete a series of profiles on the social network for allegedly misinformingto which Musk refused and accused Moraes of acting without apparent motive.
Brazil is one of the countries in the world with the most active users of Xaccording to the specialized portal DataReportal around 22 million. X It is widely used in the largest country in Latin America, with more than 200 million inhabitants, for the disclosure of official information, as well as a recreational, propaganda and debate channel.
This is not the first time that the Brazilian Justice system has determined the suspension of a social network. In 2007 it happened with YouTubein 2015 and 2016 with Whatsapp and in 2023 with Telegram for lack of cooperation in criminal investigations.
Other countries that have blocked the social network X son China, Iran, Turkmenistan, North Korea, Burma, RussiaPakistan and Venezuela.
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