Top court orders suspension of X in Brazil after tiff with Musk

Justice Alexandre de Moraes of the Federal Supreme Court (Supremo Tribunal Federal or STF) of Brazil on Friday ordered the immediate and complete suspension of the operation of X, formerly Twitter, throughout the national territory.

Notably, Moraes on August 29 had asked Elon Musk to appoint a legal representative for his social media platform X in Brazil within 24 hours or face the consequences of a nationwide suspension.

The STF shared a post and said, "STF summons Elon Musk and X to appoint a legal representative within 24 hours, under penalty of suspension of activities in Brazil."

The STF had warned that the event of non-compliance would result in the suspension of the social network's operations in Brazil.

"In case of non-compliance with the determination, the decision provides for the suspension of the social network's activities in Brazil," the STF had said.

The suspension will be followed until the Court's judicial decisions are complied with and the fines applied are paid. The order will also be valid until a representative of the company in the country is appointed, the court in its decision said.

According to the decision, made in Petition 12404, the president of the National Telecommunications Agency (Anatel), Carlos Manuel Baigorri, must take all necessary measures to ensure the suspension.

The rapporteur also ordered Apple and Google to take steps to block the use of the application by iOS and Android systems, in addition to removing it from their virtual stores, the decision added.

According to Moraes, the STF made every possible effort and granted every opportunity for X Brasil to comply with the court orders and pay the fines, which would avoid the adoption of this more serious measure.

"Unfortunately, the illicit conduct was repeated in the current investigation, making it clear that X Brasil failed to comply with several court orders, as well as the willful intention of exempting itself from responsibility for complying with the court orders issued, with the disappearance of its legal representatives in Brazil for the purposes of subpoena and, subsequently, with the aforementioned message about the possible closure of the Brazilian company," he stated.

The decision also sets a daily fine of BRL 50,000 for individuals and companies that use "technological subterfuges" to maintain the use of X, without prejudice to other sanctions in the civil and criminal spheres.