– The judicial authority in Brazil classifies X's operations.
In a dispute over the assignment of legal counsel for the news platform X, a federal judge in Brazil to stop the digital service. The National Telecommunications Agency has the authority to terminate X in the South American country within 24 hours, as ordered by Judge Alexandre de Moraes of the Supreme Federal Court. In addition, tech giants such as Google and Apple must remove the X app from their digital markets within the next five days.
Judge de Moraes took this action after X failed to comply with his order to appoint legal counsel in Brazil. X had temporarily suspended its operations in the middle of the month, citing concerns about the arrest of its former representative. Previously, the Supreme Court had ordered X to block the accounts of right-wing activists who spread conspiracy theories and false information. X did not comply with this order and also failed to pay the imposed fine.
X owner Elon Musk has sharply criticized judge Alexandre de Moraes in recent days and accused him of censorship. “Alexandre de Moraes “is a disguised dictator who acts as a judge,” he wrote on X. Musk sees himself as a champion of free speech. However, his platform is currently being used in Brazil to gather support for anti-democratic actions. So-called digital militias from the circle of former right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro are spreading false news and hate speech on social media.
Judge de Moraes' decision to halt X's digital service has sparked calls for its removal from major social networks such as Google and Facebook. Despite the controversy, Elon Musk's position as owner of X has not prevented digital militias from continuing to spread false information on social networks in Brazil.
