The United States House of Representatives is looking into a Brazilian judge’s effort’s to thwart free speech on the social media platform X, billionaire Elon Musk revealed Wednesday night.
“𝕏 just received an inquiry from the US House of Representatives regarding actions taken in Brazil that were in violation of Brazilian law,” Musk wrote. “There were hundreds, if not thousands. This is getting spicy.”
Musk acquired Twitter (now X) in 2022, after complaining that the platform was “undermining Democracy” due to its failure to uphold the principles of free speech.
The Tesla CEO promised to lead the company as a free-speech “absolutist,” and allowed hundreds of deplatformed accounts to come back.
As part of an alleged effort to combat “disinformation” on the platform, Brazilian Federal Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes has in recent days pressured X to suspend numerous right-wing accounts, including “sitting members of the Brazilian parliament and many journalists,” according to Musk.
On Saturday, X’s Global Government Affairs team posted that after being “threatened with daily fines,” they had been forced to block “certain popular accounts in Brazil.” The X team said they had notified the targeted accounts to let them know they had taken the action.
“We do not know the reasons these blocking orders have been issued,” X said. “We do not know which posts are alleged to violate the law.”
“We believe that such orders are not in accordance with the Marco Civil da Internet or the Brazilian Federal Constitution, and we challenge the orders legally where possible,” the post said. “The people of Brazil, regardless of their political beliefs, are entitled to freedom of speech, due process, and transparency from their own authorities.”
X Corp. has been forced by court decisions to block certain popular accounts in Brazil. We have informed those accounts that we have taken this action.
We do not know the reasons these blocking orders have been issued.
We do not know which posts are alleged to violate the…
— Global Government Affairs (@GlobalAffairs) April 6, 2024
In a series of posts, Musk called out De Moraes and said X would not abide by his orders. “These are the most draconian demands of any country on Earth!” Musk said in one post.
“We will probably lose all revenue in Brazil and have to shut down our office there,” he said in another. “But principles matter more than profit.”
“This judge has brazenly and repeatedly betrayed the constitution and people of Brazil,” he added. “He should resign or be impeached.”
Sunday night, De Moraes announced a criminal investigation into Musk for allegedly spreading disinformation, obstructing justice, and defying his order to block right-wing accounts and “disrespecting Brazil’s sovereignty.”
De Moraes said he would entail a fine twenty thousand dollars per day for every banned person Musk allows to speak.
Elon Musk Is All That Stands In The Way Of Totalitarianism
Last night, around 8 p.m. local time in São Paulo, Brazil, Federal Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes announced a criminal investigation into Elon Musk, the owner of X, formerly known as Twitter, for allegedly… pic.twitter.com/cAFkVphWyc
— Michael Shellenberger (@shellenberger) April 8, 2024
During an X live audio “Space” Monday night, Musk said the “last straw” was when the company was “given demands to suspend accounts of sitting members of the parliament and major journalists.” Moreover, he added, “we could not tell them that this was at the behest of Alexandre De Moraes, we had to pretend that it was due to our rules of service.”
"We kept getting these demands from Judge Alexandre to suspend accounts of sitting members of the parliament and major journalists. We could not tell them that this was at the behest of Alexandre, we had to pretend that it was due to our rules" 🇧🇷
一 Elon Musk pic.twitter.com/mfbPZFj7yG
— DogeDesigner (@cb_doge) April 8, 2024
The Instituto de Fiscalização e Controle (IFC), a left-wing Brazilian Non-Governmental Organization (NG0) has launched a $197 million lawsuit against X for “collective moral damages.” IFC claims to be “dedicated to promoting transparency and combating corruption in public administration. It involves citizens monitoring government actions and expenditures, aiming to enhance accountability and democratic governance.”
According to the NGO, Musk’s actions “not only compromises the authority of the Judiciary, but also undermines public trust in institutions, an essential element for the for the functioning of democracy.”
De Moraes previously served as Minister of Justice and Public Security and was appointed to Brazil’s Supreme Federal Court in 2017, Time reported. He is reportedly known as a “crusader” against those deemed to be “anti-Democratic.”
As a justice, de Moraes has ordered investigations into former President Jair Bolsonaro and his involvement with the post-election capitol riots in Brasilia last year. He has also jailed some of Bolsonaro’s supporters for what he claims to be attacks on Brazil’s democratic institutions.
Since 2019, De Moraes has led an investigation into Brazil’s so-called “digital militias”—purveyors of fake news for political or ideological groups—that have been verbally attacking court members.
In March 2022, de Moraes ordered the nationwide suspension of Telegram, a platform used heavily by Bolsonaro and his supporters, for its alleged failure to shut down disinformation networks. Just ahead of the October 2022 presidential election runoff between Lula da Silva and Bolsonaro, the electoral tribunal gave de Moraes unilateral power to order tech companies to remove online posts and videos under the threat of suspension in Brazil.
Right-wing politicians, including Bolsonaro, have accused de Moraes of overstepping his authority and abusing his power, though many of de Moraes’ defenders argue that the judge’s approach is sound, given the fragility of democracy in the country.
Wednesday night, Musk said during an X Space that he believes the judicial authority in Brazil has abused its power to an extreme degree not seen in any other country on earth. The Brazilian judiciary, he said, has overstepped its bounds “to executive authority.”
ELON MUSK: “They have threatened to cut off 𝕏 entirely from Brazil, they’ve also threatened to arrest our employees, and they have applied a $20,000 a day fine… This is judicial authority going far beyond judicial authority to executive authority”pic.twitter.com/6GLClYyUQU
— ALX 🇺🇸 (@alx) April 11, 2024