Brazil’s Supreme Court Imposes Additional Fines on X, Sets Conditions for Lifting Ban

Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX and Tesla and owner of X, attends the Viva Technology conference dedicated to innovation and startups at the Porte de Versailles exhibition center in Paris, France, on June 16, 2023. Gonzalo Fuentes/Reuters

Brazil’s Supreme Court announced on Sept. 27 that the Elon Musk-owned social media platform X must pay an additional $1.8 million fine, along with $3.4 million in existing penalties, before it can resume operations in the country.

The ruling, signed by Judge Alexandre de Moraes and announced by the Brazil Supreme Court in a press release Friday, was issued after X briefly became accessible in Brazil on Sept. 19 and 23, despite a court-ordered ban. The court viewed the platform’s temporary reactivation, which involved migrating services through new servers, as an attempt to circumvent the suspension.

In his latest decision, De Moraes emphasized that X and its legal representative, Rachel de Oliveira Villa Nova Conceicao, must comply with several conditions before the platform can resume operations in Brazil. These include the immediate payment of the new fine, proof of payment for previous fines, and the settlement of a $55,000 fine by the company’s new legal representative.

The judge also stated that frozen assets from X and Starlink could be used to cover the fines, but only if Starlink, also owned by Musk, agrees to withdraw its pending appeal against the asset freeze.

X did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The platform has been suspended in Brazil since mid-August after refusing to block certain user accounts accused of spreading misinformation and hate speech. However, in recent weeks, X has taken steps to meet the court’s requirements, including blocking the accounts in question and naming a Brazil-based representative.

The ongoing legal standoff has highlighted broader debates around social media platform governance, free speech, and the role of the judiciary in regulating digital content in Brazil, a key market for X.

Some critics, including advocacy groups, have expressed concerns that the suspension of X in Brazil reflects broader censorship trends. The Alliance for Defending Freedom International (ADF) called Brazil’s approach “one of the most oppressive cultures of censorship in the Western Hemisphere—one which could spread across the West.”

“Heavy-handed government censors will use whatever tool [is] at their disposal to chill speech—and as Brazil shows us that includes fining people for using VPNs to access disfavored platforms,” the ADF’s senior vice president of corporate engagement, Jeremy Tedesco, told The Epoch Times in an earlier emailed statement.

“This reminds us that the censor knows no bounds and that we must resist every attempt to trample our precious free speech rights,” he said.

Brazilian authorities have framed the actions as necessary to enforce compliance with legal orders.

Musk and X’s global government affairs team have denounced De Moraes’s orders as unlawful attempts at censorship.

Owen Evans contributed to this report.