Brazil Supreme Court fines X over noncompliance with suspension order – JURIST

Brazil’s Supreme Court ordered social media platform X (formerly Twitter) to pay a daily fine of R$5 million ($900,000 USD) on Thursday following the platform’s failure to comply with the court’s order to suspend its operation in Brazil.

The decision comes after Brazil’s National Telecommunications Agency (ANATEL) reported an update to X’s application that provided users access to the platform, breaching the court’s previous order. The court stressed that X’s disregard of its decision disrespected Brazil’s judiciary and ordered ANATEL to adopt the necessary measures to maintain the suspension of the platform’s operation in the country. The court further ordered that the agency suspend CDN Cloudflare, Fastly, EdgeUno and other servers created to evade the suspension.

The Supreme Court initially ordered the suspension of X in August as the platform failed to comply with Brazil’s legal requirement to appoint a local representative. The court upheld its decision in early September and imposed a daily fine of R$50,000 (approximately $8,900 USD) on individuals and entities attempting to bypass the suspension using technological means such as virtual private networks (VPNs). The decision prompted former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro to lead a free speech rally on Brazil’s Independence Day amid growing dissent over the suspension.

Justice Alexandre de Moraes halted the suspension following the transfer of R$18,350,000 to the national treasury from funds previously frozen in the bank accounts of X on September 13.

The case surrounding X’s activities in Brazil escalated in April when the court ordered the removal of certain users from X without justification, with the company claiming the decision violated the Marco Civil da Internet and the Brazilian Constitution. However, defying the decision to block access to the undisclosed accounts, X CEO Elon Musk was subjected to a criminal inquiry by Justice Moraes. X then announced the closure of its operations in Brazil following what it referred to as “censorship orders” by Justice Moraes.

The cause of Moraes’s war against X and its CEO is rooted in the disinformation inquiry and an STF investigation into whether former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro attempted to incite a coup d’état following his loss in the country’s 2022 presidential elections, as Moraes claimed that anti-democratic actors used social media platforms and private messaging services to undermine Brazil’s democracy.