X shuts down operations in Brazil after government demands censorship and blocking of certain accounts

Social media platform X has shut down local operations in Brazil after threats from the country's supreme court.

Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes reportedly made a secret order that called for the arrest of X officials in Brazil as well as daily fines for noncompliance.

The judge "threatened" the platform's legal representative in Brazil with arrest, X's global government affairs page claimed, unless the social app complied with "censorship orders."

'A reminder that free speech in America is special.'

"He did so in a secret order, which we share here to expose his actions. Despite our numerous appeals to the Supreme Court not being heard, the Brazilian public not being informed about these orders and our Brazilian staff having no responsibility or control over whether content is blocked on our platform, Moraes has chosen to threaten our staff in Brazil rather than respect the law or due process," the X team wrote.

"As a result, to protect the safety of our staff, we have made the decision to close our operation in Brazil, effective immediately. The X service remains available to the people of Brazil."

X owner Elon Musk shared the official statement along with his own words about the importance of the First Amendment in the United States:

"A reminder that free speech in America is special and we need to do everything possible to preserve it," Musk wrote in response.

The government affairs page shared the documents in Portuguese, with an X user following up with a translated version using ChatGPT artificial intelligence.

The translation, if accurate, pointed to growing dissatisfaction on the part of the Brazilian government.

The document pointed to three key points of contention with X; they included: "Blocking of Accounts," "Non-Compliance," and "Penalties."

The government of Brazil seemingly required X to "block certain accounts and groups" and provide details about "any monetization" related to said accounts.

Brazil also claimed the platform "failed to comply with the court's order within the specified timeframe."

The court also argued the company's representatives were difficult to contact, and as such, "obstructed" the process of enforcing the order.

Lastly, the court suggested "non-compliance" fines for "bad faith" by X representatives. They imposed a daily fine of R$50,000 which equates to about $9,250 USD.

Musk later jokingly compared to the Brazilian judge to the "Harry Potter" character Voldemort and said "the resemblance is uncanny."

The official statement from X closed by saying that the judge's actions are "incompatible with democratic government."

"The people of Brazil have a choice to make - democracy, or Alexandre de Moraes," the statement concluded.

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