For X Brasil to immediately return to its activities in the country, it must pay a fine of $1.8 million
A judge from Brazil’s supreme court denied this Friday an immediate lifting of the suspension of the social network
In the decision, Judge Alexandre de Moraes of the Supreme Federal Court noted that “for X Brazil to immediately return to its activities” in the country, it must pay a fine of $1.8 million.
According to the judge, the platform owned by magnate Elon Musk will be punished for failing to comply for two days with his orders to suspend the use of a server that allowed him to temporarily bypass the block last week.
Moraes also conditioned X’s return on his legal representative in Brazil, Rachel de Oliveira Villa Nova, paying a fine of $55,000.
The old Twitter has been suspended in Latin America’s most populous country since August 31 by order of Moraes, who accused it of failing to comply with court orders requiring it to remove accounts accused of misinforming and appoint a legal representative in Brazil.
But last Wednesday the social network was widely accessible again in Brazil thanks to a technical maneuver that allowed it to bypass the blockade, before stopping working again the next day, after complying with a court order.
Since then, the company began to comply with the requests of the Brazilian justice system to return to business, such as appointing a legal representative in Brazil.
Photograph of a mobile device with the social network X. EFE/ Antonio Lacerda.On Thursday, claiming to have already complied with all judicial demands, it requested its reinstatement in Brazil, where until its suspension it had 22 million users.
In a tweet posted on his Global Government Affairs account, X said he is “dedicated to protecting freedom of expression within the limits of the law” and that he respects “the sovereignty of the countries” where he operates.
Alexandre de Moraes and Elon Musk are fighting over the limits of freedom of expression.
After X’s suspension, Musk called the judge an “evil dictator.”
Moraes, for his part, accuses the platform of allowing the spread of information that threatens democracy.
