Social media platform X announced on Saturday that it would cease operations in Brazil “with immediate effect” due to so-called “censorship orders” issued by Brazilian judge Alexandre de Moraes, Reuters reports.
X, owned by billionaire Elon Musk, claims that Moraes secretly threatened one of its legal representatives in Brazil with arrest if the company did not comply with orders to remove certain content from its platform. The company released a document allegedly signed by Moraes, stating that X representative Rachel Nova Conceicao would be subject to a daily fine of 20,000 reais ($3,653) and an arrest warrant if the platform did not fully comply with Moraes’ orders.
“To protect the safety of our employees, we have made the decision to close our operations in Brazil with immediate effect,” X said in a statement.
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Despite the closure announcement, the X service remains accessible to users in Brazil, according to the platform.
Earlier this year, Moraes ordered X to block certain accounts as part of an investigation into “digital militias” accused of spreading misinformation and hate speech during the presidency of former President Jair Bolsonaro. Moraes launched an investigation into Musk after the billionaire announced plans to reinstate accounts that the judge had ordered blocked. Musk criticized Moraes’ decisions as “unconstitutional.”
After Musk objected, X representatives initially signaled that they would follow Moraes’ instructions, but later changed course.
In April, X’s legal team in Brazil told the Supreme Court that “operational errors” had allowed users who should have been banned to remain active on the platform.
Musk called Moraes an “absolute disgrace to the judiciary” in posts on X on Saturday and said the company could not agree to the judge’s “demands for secret censorship and release of private information.”
