Brazil's legal battle

On September 13, Judge Alexandre de Moraes of the Brazilian Supreme Court decided to transfer 18.35 million real (over 80 billion VND) from the frozen accounts of the social media company X and the satellite internet company Starlink, both owned by Mr. Musk, to the national treasury as punishment for X's failure to comply with a court order.

The conflict has been ongoing.

According to Al-Jazeera, the conflict between the two sides began in 2023, when the Brazilian Supreme Court ordered X (formerly Twitter) and other social media platforms to block accounts associated with fake news and hate speech. Musk expressed concern, but X subsequently complied. In April of this year, Judge Moraes further ordered X to block numerous accounts spreading misinformation about former President Jair Bolsonaro's defeat in the 2022 election.

Bolsonaro is accused of instigating riots in the Brazilian parliament on January 8, 2023, to prevent the inauguration of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Musk is a supporter of Bolsonaro, partly because the former president approved Starlink's operation in Brazil.

The image of the Brazilian Supreme Court is reflected on a smartphone screen displaying the logo of the social media network X.

Mr. Musk refused Mr. Moraes's request and summoned X's legal representatives in Brazil to protest, even though by law, foreign companies in Brazil are required to have legal representation. Because X failed to comply with the request before the August 30 deadline, Judge Moraes ordered internet service providers, including Starlink, to block access to the social network in Brazil and imposed a daily fine of 50,000 real on anyone using a virtual private network (VPN) to log into X. A Supreme Court committee subsequently upheld Judge Moraes's ruling, while the American billionaire asserted that Moraes's actions were illegal and the orders were issued without due process. The judge also froze the assets of X and Starlink as a measure to force the companies to pay the fines, arguing that the two companies "belong to the same economic group." Starlink has appealed against having to pay the fine to X. Billionaire Elon Musk also objected, stating that the two companies are two completely different entities with different shareholders.

Trump promised to invite billionaire Elon Musk to head the agency that evaluates the effectiveness of the US government .

X is still banned.

On September 13th, after the full amount of the fine was collected, Judge Moraes lifted the asset freeze on X and Starlink. However, he did not withdraw the ban on X in Brazil because the company still lacked legal representation and had not removed the content as requested by the judge.

Billionaire Elon Musk and his companies have not commented on the judge's latest moves. Starlink's compliance with the X-blocking order to continue operating in Brazil has been a relief to many users. The company recently announced it has more than 250,000 customers in the country, a sharp increase from just 20,000 customers in February 2023.

Meanwhile, the ban is a major blow to X's operations because Brazil is the company's sixth-largest market. CNBC, citing market reports, said X has 22 million users in Brazil, only one-sixth of Instagram and one-fifth of Facebook and TikTok. However, the platform is an important forum for discussions among politicians, journalists, academics, and celebrities. According to AFP, millions of Brazilians have switched to other social networks like Threads or Bluesky since X was blocked.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/cuoc-chien-phap-ly-brazil-elon-musk-tang-nhiet-18524091422120217.htm