X is closing shop in Brazil

X is closing shop in Brazil. According to the platform, Brazil’s Supreme Court Justice judge Alexandre de Moraes threatened to arrest X’s legal representative if the company doesn’t comply with his censorship orders.

“As a result, to protect the safety of our staff, we have made the decision to close our operation in Brazil, effective immediately,” X’s Global Government Account says in a statement.

X is involved in a fierce legal battle with judge Alexandre de Moraes. He ordered the social media platform to ban multiple accounts, including a pastor, a current parliamentarian, and the wife of a former parliamentarian.

According to the judge they are supporters of Brazil’s former far-right president Jair Bolsonaro and guilty of spreading disinformation and hate messages.

Bolsonaro lost the democratic elections in 2022 from Lula da Silva, the current president. He tried to overturn the outcome by making false claims about the country’s voting machines, and allegedly orchestrating a coup. Brazil's Superior Electoral Court decided to ban the former president from participating in the elections until 2030.

X has shared the judge’s judicial order, saying the court will impose a daily fine of R$ 50,000 -approximately $ 9,140 – and imprisonment of X’s legal representative Rachel de Oliveira Villa Nova Conceição for disobeying the court’s ruling.

“Despite our numerous appeals to the Supreme Court not being heard, the Brazilian public not being informed about these orders and our Brazilian staff having no responsibility or control over whether content is blocked on our platform, Moraes has chosen to threaten our staff in Brazil rather than respect the law or due process,” X states.

The platform expresses its concern for its decision to close its operations in Brazil, but says it was forced into making this decision. “The responsibility lies solely with Alexandre de Moraes. His actions are incompatible with democratic government. The people of Brazil have a choice to make - democracy, or Alexandre de Moraes.”

In April Moraes launched an inquiry into Elon Musk after he said he would defy the Supreme Court’s order to ban accounts. Not much later Musk came around and told the press he would comply with every ruling issued by the court.