X to End Operations in Brazil Over ‘Censorship Orders’

The X logo on a smartphone screen in Los Angeles, Calif., on July 31, 2023. (Chris Delmas/AFP via Getty Images)

Social media giant X will end operations in Brazil, although its service will remain available to users in the country for the time being.

The decision comes as the company’s latest response to actions by Brazil’s Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes.

Earlier this year, Moraes ordered X to block certain accounts, as he investigates so-called “digital militias” that have been accused of spreading fake news and hate messages during the government of former President Jair Bolsonaro.

X owner Elon Musk was included as part of the criminal inquiry into individuals who allegedly spread false information about Brazil’s election and justice system.

In a post on Aug. 17, Musk said there was no other option but to shut down X’s Brazilian office, rather than give in to de Moraes’ orders.

“Due to demands by ‘Justice’ Alexandre in Brazil that would require us to break (in secret) Brazilian, Argentinian, American and international law, has no choice but to close our local operations in Brazil,” Musk said in the post.

“The decision to close the office in Brazil was difficult, but, if we had agreed to Alexandre’s (illegal) secret censorship and private information handover demands, there was no way we could explain our actions without being ashamed,” Musk said in a follow-up post.

X’s global government affairs account said in a statement on X on Aug. 17 that de Moraes had sent “a secret order” that threatened its legal representative in Brazil with arrest if it did not comply with his “censorship orders.”

“As a result, to protect the safety of our staff, we have made the decision to close our operation in Brazil, effective immediately,” it read. “The X service remains available to the people of Brazil.”

Specifically, according to a letter shared earlier this week by the same account, the Brazilian high court ordered that X remove certain accounts belonging to right-wing Brazilian politicians, a pastor, and other Bolsonaro supporters. The court is also asking for those accounts’ access history and other related data.

“We believe the Brazilian people should know what is being asked of us,” X said.

Earlier this year, de Moraes opened a investigation into Musk after the tech billionaire refused to lift restrictions on designated accounts. Musk then called for de Moraes to “step down or be impeached.”

As part of the “digital militias” investigation, lawmakers from Bolsonaro’s circle have been imprisoned and his supporters’ homes raided. Critics of de Moraes argued that he has overstepped his authority to clamp down on undesirable political speech.

Defenders of de Moraes maintain that his decisions are legally sound and necessary to combat fake news on social media. They see the accounts as a threat to Brazilian democracy, underscored by an uprising on Jan. 8, 2023, which has been compared to the Jan. 6, 2021 breach of the U.S. Capitol.

Brazilian Attorney General Jorge Messias wrote on X in April that there was an urgent need for his country to regulate social media networks.

“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,” he said. “Social peace is non-negotiable.”

Reuters contributed to this report.