Brazil Supreme Court Fines X For Avoiding Ban

The Supreme Court in Brazil advised X that it could face fines for circumventing the court-ordered ban in the country.

X was banned in Brazil in August following the decision of Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes. After X updated its communications network, many users in the country regained access to it.

The Supreme Court quickly convened after X became available and ruled that X would face fines of up to 5 million reals per day, or approximately $920,000 if it continues to bypass the ban. In his latest order, Justice Moraes said, “There is no doubt that X, under Elon Musk’s direct command, again intends to disrespect Brazil’s Judiciary.”

X said changes in network providers caused “an inadvertent and temporary service restoration.” A few hours later, X went offline again after reverting to its original service provider.

Some doubt the credibility of the claim and suspect X changed service providers to test ways of bypassing the ban, in this case, by using a provider that does not assign fixed IP addresses.

Brazil banned X due to two key behaviors: not establishing a legal entity and representative in the country and refusing to remove banned content from its platform.

Brazil requires companies operating within its borders to have a legal entity with a representative based in Brazil. X removed its representative in August, but its lawyers say it will present a new representative to the Supreme Court “very soon.”

X removed its representative in response to a court order asking X to remove content considered illegal in Brazil, particularly accounts and content that spread hate speech and misinformation. Elon Musk, owner of X, refused to remove the content and has come out against the court order, calling it censorship.

Lawyers for X have also advised that X is starting to comply with the orders to remove the banned content. As soon as X complies with these two legal points, it can immediately become available in the country again.