X Closes Its Offices in Brazil Amid Dispute with the Supreme Court

Social media platform X, formerly Twitter, has decided to close its offices in Brazil after a heated legal dispute over the platform’s rights and responsibilities, its owner Elon Musk announced on Saturday, while the service will remain available to Brazilian users.

The decision comes amid a legal dispute between Musk and Brazilian Supreme Court Judge Alexandre de Moraes, who insists he is seeking to combat the spread of dangerous misinformation online.

On Saturday, a post from XN Morais’ Global Government Affairs Department said, “Our legal representative in Brazil has threatened arrest if we don’t comply with his censorship orders”.

The administration pointed out that the step of closing the offices was necessary to preserve the safety of our employees, noting that the responsibility lies exclusively with Alexander de Morais.

Morais had previously ordered the suspension of several accounts on X for suspected dissemination of misleading information, including accounts of supporters of former far-right President Jair Bolsonaro who tried to undermine the credibility of the voting system in the 2022 presidential election, which their leader lost.

“Freedom of expression does not mean freedom to engage in aggression or freedom to defend tyranny,” Morais said.

Morais is leading the fight against misinformation in South America’s largest country.

Last year, he disqualified Bolsonaro from running again for president, saying he had spread false information about the electoral system.

Musk and other critics said Morais’ move was part of a broader crackdown on free speech.

In April, Morais ordered an investigation into Musk, as Morais accused Musk of criminal abuse of the platform.

Morais said that Musk had reactivated banned accounts, threatening the billionaire with a fine of about $20,000 for each.

While Morias stressed that laws should be applied to social networks, Musk responded by stressing that X might lose its Brazilian revenues, but principles are more important than profit.