X is capitulating to Brazil’s Supreme Court

By wazup on September 21, 2024 Comments Closed / 38 views

In a surprising move Elon Musk’s social media site, X, had agreed to abide by Brazilian court orders.

By Alex Cranz, deputy editor and co-host of The Vergecast. She oversaw consumer tech coverage at Gizmodo for five years. Her work has also appeared in the WSJ and Wired.

Brazilian fan account owners might have a reason to rejoice, as X could be returning to Brazil. According to the New York Times, in a court filing Friday night the company agreed to abide by the Supreme Court’s request in order to have the countrywide ban lifted:

Now, X’s lawyers said the company had done exactly what Mr. Musk vowed not to: take down accounts that a Brazilian justice ordered removed because the judge said they threatened Brazil’s democracy. X also complied with the justice’s other demands, including paying fines and naming a new formal representative in the country, the lawyers said.

The company has spent the last three weeks fighting the ban and continuing to distribute content from members of the far right community in Brazil. This led to X being blocked by Brazilian ISPs, and eventually trying to get around the blocks with some help from Cloudflare.

But earlier this week things appeared to shift. As the New York Times notes, it began when X engaged with new lawyers in Brazil on Thursday. Then came the filing Friday. The Brazilian Supreme Court confirmed X’s interest in returning to the country according to a filing Saturday and has given the company five days to send documentation of its compliance with the court order.

This is all at odds with how vocal X owner Elon Musk has been about defending “free speech” in the country.