Elon Musk hits out at judge threatening to suspend X in Brazil
By Duarte Mendonca, CNN
(CNN) — Elon Musk has stepped up online attacks on a Supreme Court judge threatening to suspend social media platform X in Brazil, calling him “an evil dictator” in an ongoing feud between the two men.
Justice Alexandre de Moraes had threatened to suspend X if Musk did not appoint a new legal representative of the company in Brazil and settle any outstanding daily fines within 24 hours.
“Alexandre de Moraes is an evil dictator cosplaying as a judge,” the world’s richest person wrote on X.
Musk, who had previously called de Moraes “Darth Vader,” retweeted a statement from X’s Global Government Affairs team saying it would publish the judge’s “illegal demands and all related court filings” in the coming days.
Brazil is a major market for social media platforms. About 40 million Brazilians, or about 18% of the population, access X at least once per month, according to the Associated Press.
The trash talking marks the latest salvo in Musk’s feud with de Moraes, which centers on arguments over free speech and alleged disinformation. X announced earlier this month that it would close its operations and fire its staff in Brazil due to what it called “censorship orders” from the judge.
De Moraes had ordered the social media company to block several X accounts he said were spreading disinformation.
The latest statement, which was signed by de Moraes, was also shared on the Supreme Court’s official X account, tagging both Musk and X’s Global Government Affairs account.
The statement from the Supreme Court was posted at around 8.30 p.m. local time on Wednesday, giving Musk until Thursday evening local time to respond.
‘Censorship orders’
On August 17, X published a lengthy statement saying it would be forced to close operations and fire staff in Brazil due to de Moraes’ “censorship orders.”
“Despite our numerous appeals to the Supreme Court not being heard, the Brazilian public not being informed about these orders and our Brazilian staff having no responsibility or control over whether content is blocked on our platform, Moraes has chosen to threaten our staff in Brazil rather than respect the law or due process,” the X statement said.
“As a result, to protect the safety of our staff, we have made the decision to close our operation in Brazil, effective immediately. The X service remains available to the people of Brazil. We are deeply saddened that we have been forced to make this decision. The responsibility lies solely with Alexandre de Moraes.”
Later that day, Musk reiterated the official X statement, saying his company had “no choice” but to close Brazilian operations.
“Due to demands by ‘Justice’ Alexandre [de Moraes] in Brazil that would require us to break (in secret) Brazilian, Argentinian, American and international law, X has no choice but to close our local operations in Brazil,” he said in an X post.
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