Brazil's Supreme Court Holds Elon Musk-Owned X Accountable for Non-Compliance

The Supreme Court of Brazil ordered X, owned by Elon Musk, to comply or face daily fines of 5 million reais. This comes after X circumvented a block imposed by the court. The platform, which had been inaccessible, became available due to a network update. X now plans to adhere to Brazilian laws.

Brazil's Supreme Court has unequivocally directed Elon Musk's social media platform, X, to adhere to a prior ruling that suspended the service in the country, threatening a daily fine of 5 million reais ($921,726.95) for non-compliance, a court decision revealed on Thursday.

Despite the court-mandated block, X became accessible to many users in Brazil on Wednesday, thanks to an update to its communications network. This violation has already resulted in a 5 million-real fine. In August, following a prolonged legal battle between Musk and Brazilian Justice Alexandre de Moraes, the Supreme Court instructed Brazil's mobile and internet service providers to disable the platform, making it inaccessible within hours.

Justice Moraes noted that X, under Musk's leadership, aimed to bypass Brazil's Judiciary. In light of this, CNN Brasil reported on Thursday, quoting lawyers involved in the platform's defense, that X plans to comply with Brazilian court orders to resume services in the country. Previously, the courts had blocked accounts for spreading misinformation and hate speech, which Musk criticized as censorship, and demanded X appoint a local representative in compliance with Brazilian law. The platform did not immediately comment.

On Wednesday, X attributed the temporary service restoration to a network provider switch and affirmed its ongoing efforts to work with the Brazilian government to restore service swiftly. ($1 = 5.4246 reais)

(With inputs from agencies.)