This past weekend Brazil’s Federal Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered X to block a number of popular accounts. Almost immediately after, Elon Musk said that free speech principles matter more than profits. And he announced plans to defy the court’s order and lift all speech restrictions in the country once his employees are in a “safe place” where they are not at risk of being arrested. Musk says he expects he will ultimately be forced to shut down X’s office in Brazil and will lose all revenue there.
On April 7, shortly after Musk’s announcement, de Moraes issued a decision adding Musk to a broader investigation. In this new inquiry, the judge accused Musk of obstruction of justice and incitement to crime. “The flagrant conduct of obstruction of Brazilian Justice, incitement to crime, public threat of disobedience to court orders and future lack of cooperation by the platform are facts that disrespect Brazil’s sovereignty and reinforce the connection of the intentional criminal instrumentalization of the activities of the former Twitter,” he wrote. Many now expect the Brazilian Supreme Court to shut off access to X at any moment.
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