Anika Begay
X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, announced today that it will cease operations in Brazil, although the service will continue to be available to users in the country.
The announcement comes amid a legal battle with Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who has sought to block some X accounts as part of an investigation into election disinformation and “digital militias.”
In a post on X’s global government affairs account, the company said Moraes had “threatened our legal representative in Brazil with arrest if we did not comply with his censorship orders.”
Last night, Alexandre de Moraes threatened to arrest our legal representative in Brazil if we did not comply with his censorship orders. He did so in a secret order, which we share here to denounce his actions.
Although our numerous appeals to the Supreme Court have not been heard,… photo.twitter.com/Pm2ovyydhE
— Global Government Affairs (@GlobalAffairs) August 17, 2024
The company continued, “As a result, to protect the safety of our staff, we have made the decision to close our operations in Brazil, effective immediately. The X service remains available to the Brazilian population.”
In an earlier post, X listed some of the targeted accounts and said they include “a pastor, a current MP, and the wife of a former MP.”
Earlier this year, Moraes opened a criminal investigation into Elon Musk after the X owner said he would defy a court order to lift restrictions on designated accounts. The company then appeared to reverse course and said it would lock the accounts after all.
Supporters of Brazil’s far-right former President Jair Bolsonaro have criticized Moraes and called for his impeachment. Bolsonaro lost the 2022 election and Brazil’s Supreme Electoral Court barred him from running again for eight years, saying he sought to undermine the election through his allegations of fraud.
Musk, who visited Brazil in 2022 and met with Bolsonaro, also he said Moraes “should resign or be impeached.”
In today’s post, X said that “our Brazilian staff has no responsibility or control over whether content is blocked on our platform” and that “the Brazilian people have a choice to make: democracy or Alexandre de Moraes.”
