The Brazilian Supreme Court lifts ban on X
Brazil’s Supreme Court on Tuesday lifted a ban on Elon Musk’s X, which had been blocked for more than a month in a dispute over the fight against disinformation.
I immediately authorize the resumption of activities of the social media platform, Supreme Court Justice Alexander de Moraes said, after a settlement in which the platform paid millions of dollars in fines imposed on it for not complying with court orders.
The judge gave the telecoms regulator 24 hours to restore access to the platform.
Brazil is X’s largest market in Latin America, with nearly 22 million users.
After months of wrangling over the 2022 presidential campaign, de Moraes announced in late August that he was banning the platform for failing to respond to his requests to remove dozens of right-wing accounts accused of spreading misinformation and for failing to name a legal representative in Brazil.
The Supreme Court upheld the decision in early September.
This tension, in which freedom of expression is intertwined with the responsibility of large corporations, has received great attention around the world.
The ban angered Musk, who called De Moraes an “evil dictator” however, X eventually complied with all the procedures the judge set as conditions for lifting the ban.
De Moraes confirmed last week that the company had settled and paid fines totaling about $5.2 million.
