Brazil Lifts the Ban on X - Exepose

As of the 8th of October, Brazil’s ban on X, Musk’s social media network, was lifted.

After months of back and forth between the owner of X (formerly Twitter), Elon Musk, and the Supreme Court of Brazil, X was banned from use in August of this year. The reason behind the ban was the belief from Brazilian officials that the platform was partially responsible for the spread of far-right misinformation and dissemination of anti-democratic content which ultimately led to far-right riots in January of 2023. 

Following the ban on X, Musk, a self-proclaimed “free-speech absolutist” was cited calling Justice Moraes an “evil dictator”, and declaring the ban an “abuse of power and violation of free speech.”

Justice Moraes responded by accusing X of “undermining democracy by allowing disinformation to flourish”. This led to a legal wrestle between Musk, who aligned himself with far-right Brazilian former president Jair Bolsonaro, and the Brazilian Supreme Court, as X continued to refuse to comply with the Supreme Court’s ruling.

Political commentator, Gerson Camarotti, stated that the ban was not about censorship, but about noncompliance with judicial decisions. Supporting the ban, Brazilian president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva stated that Brazil would not “be intimidated by individuals, companies or digital platforms that believe themselves to be above the law.”

This ban was a financial hit for the company, as prior to the ban, Brazil had one of the largest markets for the social network, and the biggest in the continent of South America, with 22 million users.

Last month, Musk’s team found a method of bypassing the ban, however, this led to further fines for the corporation, of around £695,000 per day that it was accessible to the Brazilian public. 

Justice Alexandre de Moraes lifted the ban after Musk finally paid the fines (amounting to around £3.9 million) issued to the company and banned the accounts that the Supreme Court accused of spreading disinformation. 

The government affairs team of X released a statement expressing the importance of “giving tens of millions of Brazilians access to our indispensable platform”. 

Musk has not responded to the lifting of the ban, but social media activism organisation, Sleeping Giants, said that “it was a significant victory for Brazilian democracy”. This was reinforced by political commentator, Gerson Camarotti, stating that “it’s Brazilian democracy that gains with this.” Camarotti went on to refer to X as “the network of hatred”, as the platform has become a breeding ground for far-right misinformation.