Social network X closes its offices in Brazil

By its own decision, social network X—formerly known as Twitter—closed its offices in Brazil on Saturday (Aug. 17). Despite the move, the social network’s service should remain available to Brazilians.

In a statement, the network refuses to block profiles and accounts following a Federal Police inquiry regarding the obstruction of probes into criminal organization and incitement to crime, in breach of an alleged ruling by Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, which has not yet been confirmed by the court.

Justice Moraes is also said to have ordered the personal summons of X’s representative in Brazil. However, he could not locate those responsible for the social network.

Also in the alleged order, Justice Moraes is said to have stated that the representative of X Brasil had acted in bad faith, trying to avoid being summoned. As the company’s representatives could not be found, the justice reportedly ordered the arrest of X’s legal representative for disobeying the court order and imposed a daily fine of BRL 20 thousand on the representative, the text released by X says.

The company’s global affairs department said that “to protect the safety of our staff, we have made the decision to close our operation in Brazil, effective immediately. The X service remains available to the people of Brazil.” The social network added that its appeals will not succeed in the Supreme Court, adding that Justice Moraes has chosen to “threaten our staff.”

The owner of the social network, Elon Musk, commented: “The decision to close the X office in Brazil was difficult, but, if we had agreed to [Justice Alexandre Moraes’] (illegal) secret censorship and private information handover demands, there was no way we could explain our actions without being ashamed.”

A global activist

This is not the first time multi-billionaire Elon Musk has challenged the Brazilian judiciary. Analysts believe this could be a strategy by the global far-right to hinder investigations into the attempted coup d’état in Brazil on January 8, 2023.

The owner of Platform X and several other companies—from a satellite manufacturer to an electric car maker—has been known for his political activism in a number of countries, including Bolivia, Venezuela, Brazil, and the US itself, where he openly campaigns for Donald Trump.

Musk has also been involved in the violence crisis in the UK, where extremist groups have attacked immigrants on the streets. On the subject, Musk commented that a “civil war is inevitable” in the European country. X has also been accused of promoting anti-immigrant content.