Brazil's Supreme Court has ordered Elon Musk's X platform not to circumvent a previous ruling suspending its operations in the country. If the portal fails to comply, it could face a fine of $920,000 per day.
Portal X became available to many Brazilian users on Wednesday after an update bypassed a court blockade, Reuters reports.
In accordance with the previous decision of the justice system, Bypassing the blockade resulted in a fine of 5 million reais, or about $920,000. Importantly, if the platform does not restore the block, further penalties will be charged every day.
“There is no doubt that X, under the direct command of Elon Musk, intends to once again show disrespect to the Brazilian justice system,” the Brazilian judge wrote.
Court accuses Musk of disrespect
Platform X published a statement on Wednesday stating that a change in network provider resulted in “inadvertent and temporary restoration of services” In Brazil. Access was blocked again a few hours later. It added that X is continuing its efforts to work with the Brazilian government to resume services “very quickly.”
Brazilian law firm Pinheiro Neto Advogados, which represents X in the Brazilian Supreme Court, declined to comment on Thursday.
Fighting X in Brazil
In August, after a months-long dispute between Musk and Brazilian judge Alexandre de Moraes, Supreme Court ordered Brazilian mobile and internet service providers to block the platform, cutting off users from it within hours.
National telecommunications agency Anatel said in a statement that it was working to re-block access to X via the Cloudflare network, which was used to bypass the block. This is likely to happen by the end of Thursday.
Earlier this year, Judge Moraes, who is investigating so-called digital militias accused of spreading fake news and hate under far-right President Jair Bolsonaro, ordered the deletion of some accounts on the X platform. Musk called Moraes’ decisions “unconstitutional.”
In the spring, lawyers representing platform X in Brazil told the court that “operational errors” had allowed users who were supposed to be blocked under the order to continue operating.
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