A standoff between Elon Musk and Brazil intensified Sunday when a Supreme Court judge opened an investigation into the billionaire after Musk said he would reactivate accounts on social media platform X that the magistrate had ordered blocked.
Musk, owner of X and self-proclaimed freedom of expression absolutist, has challenged a decision by Judge Alexandre de Moraes that ordered the blocking of certain accounts. He said that X, formerly known as Twitter, would lift all restrictions because they were unconstitutional and called on Moraes to resign.
Neither Musk, X nor Brazilian authorities have revealed which social media accounts were ordered blocked. X first posted about the lockdown order on Saturday, but it was not immediately clear when the order was issued.
Moraes is investigating “digital militias” that have been accused of spreading fake news and hate messages during the government of former far-right president Jair Bolsonaro and is also leading an investigation into an alleged coup attempt by Bolsonaro.
Musk, in an X post on Saturday night, accused Moraes of “blatantly and repeatedly” betraying the constitution and the people of Brazil.
“This judge has handed out massive fines, threatened to arrest our employees and cut off access to X in Brazil,” he said in the post. “As a result, we will probably lose all revenue in Brazil and have to close our office there. But principles matter more than profits.”
The billionaire has pledged to legally challenge the order blocking X accounts wherever possible.
Moraes responded Sunday by adding Musk to the investigation he is leading into fake news on social media and opening an investigation into what he called obstruction of justice.
In his decision, Moraes said that “X must refrain from disobeying any court order already issued, including carrying out any profile reactivation that has been blocked by this Supreme Federal Court.”
If X does not comply with the order to block certain accounts, the company will be fined 100,000 reais ($19,740) per day, the judge said in a statement sent to the media.
The leftist government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva expressed support for Moraes, and Attorney General Jorge Messias criticized Musk and called for the regulation of social media to prevent foreign platforms from violating Brazilian laws.
“We cannot live in a society in which billionaires domiciled abroad have control of social networks and put themselves in a position to violate the rule of law, failing to comply with court orders and threatening our authorities,” Messias said in a post on x.
Last year, Moraes also ordered an investigation into executives at social messaging platform Telegram and Alphabet's Google, who were running a campaign criticizing an Internet regulation bill.
The bill puts the responsibility on internet companies, search engines and social messaging services to find and report illegal material, rather than leaving it to the courts. He would also impose heavy fines if he did not do so.
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