X bows to Brazil’s demands, again

• X has hired legal counsel and started working on lifting its ban in Brazil.
• Brazil’s Supreme Court has acknowledged X’s filing of paperwork but noted that it’s incorrect.
• This is the second time this year X has battled with Brazil only to eventually bow to the nation’s demands.

The social network formerly known as Twitter, X, has been warring with Brazilian lawmakers for the last month, or at least that’s what billionaire owner Elon Musk wanted us to believe.

Now, the social network has seemingly bowed to demands made by Brazil’s Supreme court. This after the Supreme Court has banned X in the country, one of the platform’s largest markets.

As reported by The New York Times, on Friday night X filed papers to show that it had complied with the Supreme Court’s orders to remove accounts that allegedly threaten democracy in Brazil. This is a departure from Musk’s insistence that he wouldn’t censor accounts, despite censoring accounts for regimes that align with his world view.

However, as per the NYT, X hasn’t filed the correct paperwork and it now has five days to correct this.

Not only has X now blocked the accounts highlighted by Justice Alexandre de Moraes, but it has also hired legal counsel to represent it in the country.

X remains blocked in Brazil.

This is not the first time Musk has made a big song and dance about preserving freedom of speech in Brazil, only to capitulate to lawmakers. In April, X backed down from its stance that it wouldn’t ban accounts that were allegedly spreading misinformation. At that time Brazil was merely threatening to ban access to X.

In this latest brawl in Brazil, X was actually banned leading throngs of locals to signup for Bluesky. Not only was X banned, using a VPN to access the platform could see a person fined. Rather than risk a fine then, Brazilians went elsewhere for their doom scroll fix.

“What a week! In the last few days more than 2.6 million users have registered on our platform, and more than 85 percent of those are Brazilian. You are very welcome and we are very happy you are with us,” Bluesky wrote shortly after X was banned.

Throughout this debacle, Musk has taunted de Moraes, going so far as to set up the Alexandre Files, an account which posts the orders the judge sends X. That account has been updated in about a month and Musk hasn’t taken a shot at the judge in as long either.

Brazil also froze Starlink’s finances given its ties to Musk in an effort to compel the X to comply.

Neither X, nor Musk. has commented on its kowtowing to Brazil’s court and we suspect no statement will be made until the platform’s ban is lifted. We doubt that this will be the last time X and Brazil come to loggerheads.

[Image – Heiko Behn from Pixabay]

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