(Bloomberg) — Brazil’s top judge threatened to block Elon Musk’s X if the social media platform doesn’t appoint a legal representative in the country within 24 hours, escalating a clash between the mercurial billionaire and Latin America’s largest economy.
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The order came days after the platform formerly known as Twitter vowed to close its operations in Brazil, while keeping the service available to its estimated 20 million active users in the country.
The supreme court published its ruling on its official X account Wednesday, in a reply to X’s threat. It’s the latest twist in a clash between the world’s richest man and Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who is spearheading efforts to combat fake news and hate speech in Brazil.
Brazil’s supreme court has issued a plethora of rulings suspending social media accounts since thousands of supporters of ex-President Jair Bolsonaro broke into major government buildings in early 2023. It ordered the suspension of prominent users, forced the removal of posts, and even cautioned to temporarily shut down entire platforms such as Telegram and X.
Musk has challenged the orders, which led Moraes to open an investigation against the Tesla Inc. chief executive officer. On Aug. 17, X said Moraes threatened to arrest its legal representative in Brazil if they didn’t comply with “his censorship orders.” Musk called the decision to close X’s office in the country “difficult,” in a post.
Moraes’s decision is intended to ensure the platform respects Brazilian legislation, which requires representation in the country, the court said in Wednesday’s post.
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