Brazil on October 8 restored Elon Musk's X (formerly known as Twitter) in the country after the social media platform complied with the country's Supreme Court order banning far-right accounts, AP reported citing court documents. This comes after almost a month of shutdown since August 30 this year.
Brazilian Supreme Court's Justice Alexandre de Moraes authorized the restoration of X´s service in Brazil. The country contributes an estimated user base of 20-40 million on the platform.
Moraes and Musk were locked in a battle on the issue of far-right accounts, misinformation and free speech, with the tech billionaire initially refusing to budge and alleging that the judge was "an authoritarian and a censor". Notably, Moraes' rulings have been repeatedly upheld by his peers.
Musk's X has now fully complied with all of the Brazilian court's demands — including blocking the far-right accounts named, paying the outstanding fines, and naming a legal representative in the country, AP added.
“The resumption of (X)’s activities on national territory was conditioned, solely, on full compliance with Brazilian laws and absolute observance of the Judiciary's decisions, out of respect for national sovereignty,” de Moraes said in the court document.
“X is proud to return to Brazil. Giving tens of millions of Brazilians access to our indispensable platform was paramount throughout this entire process. We will continue to defend freedom of speech, within the boundaries of the law, everywhere we operate,” the company said in a statement posted on its Global Government Affairs account.
Matteo Ceurvels, research firm Emarketer’s analyst for Latin America and Spain said Musk's u-turn was not surprising.
“The move was pragmatic, likely driven by the economic consequences of losing access to millions of users in its third-largest market worldwide, along with the millions of dollars in associated advertising revenue. Although X may not be a top priority for most advertisers in Brazil, the platform needs them more than they need it,” Ceurvels said.
Brazilian law requires foreign companies to have a local legal representative to receive notifications of court decisions and swiftly take any requisite action. Appointing this legal point is what Musk failed to do when asked to block certain “extreme far-right” accounts on X.
Judge de Moraes had threatened to arrest Rachel de Oliveira Villa Nova Conceicao, X's legal rep who was named in April, if the company did not comply with orders to block accounts. She stepped down four months later.
Conceicao is back and now reportedly has a clause requiring prior written instruction from X for any legal responsibility she assumes for the company.
(With inputs from AP)
