X owner Elon Musk is challenging an order from Brazil’s increasingly authoritarian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who ordered the platform to block certain accounts in the country.
Independent reporter Michael Shellenberger provided an overview of the situation in Brazil in a lengthy X post over the weekend. “Brazil is engaged in a sweeping crackdown on free speech led by a Supreme Court justice named Alexandre de Moraes,” Shellenberger wrote.
“De Moraes has thrown people in jail without trial for things they posted on social media. He has demanded the removal of users from social media platforms. And he has required the censorship of specific posts, without giving users any right of appeal or even the right to see the evidence presented against them,” he continued. Shellenberger went on to list a number of ways that de Moraes and the nation’s highest court have continuously attempted to “undermine democracy in Brazil,” which includes a demand of access to the platform’s data, illegal demands to reveal the identities of users who have criticized his conduct, censorship of opposing political leaders and a “weaponization” of the platform’s content moderation policies.
“This aggressive censorship appears to violate the law & will of the people of Brazil,” Musk wrote in an X post on Saturday evening.
In a follow-up statement, Musk announced that the restrictions opposed by de Moraes would immediately be lifted. “We are lifting all restrictions. This judge has applied massive fines, threatened to arrest our employees and cut off access to X in Brazil,” he wrote. “As a result, we will probably lose all revenue in Brazil and have to shut down our office there.”
“But principles matter more than profit.”
Since winning a narrow victory in a controversial election last year, leftist president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has moved to aggressively censor and jail his political opponents with the help of the Supreme Court. Lula’s government is currently seeking to jail ex-Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaroand has already arrested a number of his key political allies.
The government, aided by de Moraes, has also been involved in a brutal, January 6-style crackdown on protesters who objected to the election results at the National Congress of Brazil.
Musk called on de Moraes to resign in a follow-up X post on Sunday. “Coming shortly, 𝕏 will publish everything demanded by @Alexandre and how those requests violate Brazilian law,” Musk wrote. “This judge has brazenly and repeatedly betrayed the constitution and people of Brazil. He should resign or be impeached.”
“Shame @Alexandre. Shame.”
