Headline Roundup • October 9th, 2024
Elon Musk's X Reinstated in Brazil Following Compliance with Supreme Court Mandates
Summary from the AllSides News Team
Following a month-long suspension due to clashes between Elon Musk and Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, the social media platform X is returning to Brazil.
The Details: Prior to the suspension, X claimed that de Moraes had threatened to arrest its legal representative for not complying with his orders. Musk initially criticized de Moraes' demands to block specific accounts as censorship, but five weeks after X's suspension, he began to comply with the conditions set by the Justice. X blocked the accounts, paid $5.1 million in fines, and appointed a legal representative.
Key Quote: X's Global Government Affairs team said, "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."
For Context: Brazil, with a large online population of 213 million people, is estimated to have somewhere between 20 and 40 million X users.
How the Media Covered It: ABC News (Lean Left bias) emphasized arguments that Brazil was trying to combat "far-right accounts and misinformation" with the rules imposed on X. It said, "Musk had disparaged de Moraes, calling him an authoritarian and a censor, although his rulings, including X’s nationwide suspension, were repeatedly upheld by his peers." An editor wrote this summary with the help of AllSides AI.
Featured Coverage of this Story
Patrick Pleul/Pool via Reuters
Brazil’s supreme court lifted its ban on Elon Musk’s X on Tuesday after the social-media platform complied with a justice’s demands. The nationwide ban was in effect for more than a month.
Brazil’s highest court previously upheld Justice Alexandre de Moraes’s August 30 order after X had declined to name a legal representative in Brazil. X ultimately complied with that demand and agreed to censor certain accounts and pay outstanding fines, the Associated Press reported.
The social media platform X began returning to Brazil on Wednesday, after remaining inaccessible for more than a month following a clash between its owner, Elon Musk, and a justice on the country’s highest court.
Internet service providers began restoring access to the platform after Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes authorized lifting X’s suspension on Tuesday.
“TWITTER IS ALIVE,” Lucas dos Santos Consoli, known as luscas on X, wrote on the platform to his more than 7 million followers.
WIRED
Today after a month-long suspension, X is now live again in Brazil. The platform had been suspended since late August after a showdown with the country’s Supreme Court in which X refused a court order to remove certain right-wing accounts and content that the Court said violated Brazilian law. After weeks of not complying, it seems that Elon Musk has caved. Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre authorized X’s return after the company blocked profiles accused of disseminating false information, re-appointing a legal representative in the country, and paying fines that...
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