Musk first runs afoul of Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes.
De Moraes asked X to remove over 100 accounts flagged as misinformation, hate speech, or attacks on democracy. The platform initially agreed, but Musk posted to X later that same day, saying the platform would not impose restrictions.
Musk called the order “aggressive censorship” and told his 202 million followers that X would lift all restrictions.
“We are lifting all restrictions. This judge has applied massive fines, threatened to arrest our employees and cut off access to X in Brazil,” Musk wrote. “As a result, we will probably lose all revenue in Brazil and have to shut down our office there. But principles matter more than profit.”
De Moraes then opened an investigation into Musk for obstruction of justice and imposed a fine of about $20,000 each time X reactivated an account.
Musk and de Moraes found themselves in a stand-off.
X’s Global Government Affairs account said Musk closed the company’s Brazil-based offices on August 17 after de Moraes “threatened our legal representative in Brazil with arrest if we do not comply with his censorship orders.”
De Moraes upped the ante on August 30 when he officially barred X in Brazil. The ban prompted a surge in VPN demand despite de Moraes threatening to fine people nearly $9,000 a day for using workarounds to access X.
The repercussions were also felt at Musk’s SpaceX, which operates a satellite internet system called Starlink. Starlink’s bank accounts were frozen in Brazil on August 29 to help pay X’s fines since the companies were both owned by Musk.
“This order is based on an unfounded determination that Starlink should be responsible for the fines levied — unconstitutionally —against X,” Starlink said in an X post.
Musk also responded on X, saying SpaceX and Starlink were separate companies with different shareholders, so the decision “improperly punishes other shareholders and the people of Brazil.”
The tension finally ended in late September when X quietly agreed to comply with the orders from Brazil’s Supreme Court. X paid a $5.2 million fine and blocked flagged accounts. Brazilian X users regained access to the platform in early October.
