Brazil lifts ban on Musk’s X after it pays $5m fine
Brazil’s Supreme Court has announced the lifting of a ban on the social media platform X, previously known as Twitter.
In his ruling, Justice Alexandre de Moraes stated that he approved the “immediate resumption” of X’s operations in the country after the platform paid significant fines and blocked accounts accused of disseminating misinformation.
The platform has reportedly paid fines amounting to 28 million reais (approximately $5.1 million; £3.8 million) and has agreed to appoint a local representative, as mandated by Brazilian law.
Moraes had previously restricted access to X, which is owned by Elon Musk, after it declined to suspend several accounts identified by the government as spreading false information regarding the 2022 Brazilian presidential election.
Brazil’s telecommunications regulatory agency, Anatel, has been tasked with ensuring that service is restored for over 20 million users in the country within 24 hours.
After months of noncompliance with the court’s directives, Musk terminated the company’s Brazilian employees in late August and shut down X’s office in Brazil.
“The decision to close X offices in Brazil was difficult,” Musk, who also runs electric carmaker Tesla and rocket company SpaceX, wrote at the time.
A self-declared “free-speech absolutist”, the billionaire entrepreneur had described Justice Moraes’ move to ban several dozen accounts as an abuse of power and a violation of free speech.
Several days later, Justice Moraes ordered for the entire platform to be blocked across the country.
Many users switched to alternative sites such as Bluesky, and demand for VPNs (Virtual Proxy Networks) in Brazil soared.
But in September, the platform began to comply with the court’s orders in an apparent U-turn.
On Tuesday, X said that it was “proud to return to Brazil”.
“Giving tens of millions of Brazilians access to our indispensable platform was paramount throughout this entire process,” its government affairs team wrote in a statement.
It appears that X has now complied with all of the judge’s demands to have the ban lifted.
Brazil is one of the biggest markets for the platform across the globe, as well as its largest in Latin America, with an estimated 22 million users.
