Brazil's top court threatens to ban Musk's X

Brazil’s top court has threatened to ban X (former twitter) unless its billionaire owner Elon Musk names a legal representative in the Latin American country within 24 hours.

Supreme Court judge Alexandre de Moraes said in an order made public on Wednesday that failure to appoint a legal representative could result in the “suspension of the social network’s activities”.

The order is the latest development in a months-long feud between Musk and de Moraes, who has led a crackdown on alleged misinformation and disinformation in the nation of more than 200 million people.

De Moraes has ordered the suspension of more than 100 X accounts in recent years, including some belonging to supporters of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who lost the 2022 election to Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva after peddling unsubstituted claims that Brazil’s electronic voting machines are prone to fraud.

In April, De Moraes accused Musk of waging a “disinformation campaign” and disrespecting Brazil’s sovereignty after the Tesla CEO decided to stop complying with the court orders to block certain X accounts.

Musk, a self-described free speech absolutist, has accused de Moraes of stifling free speech and violating Brazil’s constitution.

X announced earlier this month it would shut its operations in Brazil, saying de Moraes had threatened one of the company’s legal representatives with arrest if it did not comply with his takedown orders.

The Supreme Court at the time declined to comment on X’s claims.

Right-wing allies of Bolsonaro, who was barred from running for office until 2030 by de Moraes and four other judges over his claims about electronic voting, have accused the top jurist of stepping beyond his authority to suppress his political foes.

De Moraes’s defenders argue his actions have been necessary at a time of rampant disinformation and right-wing threats to democracy.

Musk met Bolsonaro in 2022 after travelling to Brazil to discuss the expansion of his satellite internet service Starlink and other technology projects in the region.