A Brazilian judge has mandated a ban on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter) after Elon Musk, the platform's owner, failed to appoint a new legal representative in the country. This decision, reported by Bloomberg and Poder360, requires Brazil's National Telecommunications Agency to restrict access to X within 24 hours. Additionally, Apple and Google have five days to remove the app from their stores in Brazil. The court has also imposed daily fines of 50,000 Brazilian real (~$8,900 USD) for individuals attempting to access X via a VPN.

The conflict escalated after Musk shut down X’s offices in Brazil, accusing Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes of threatening to arrest the company’s legal representative for not following "censorship orders." In response, Musk criticized the judge on X, claiming that free speech is essential to democracy and accusing the judge of undermining it for political reasons.

Tensions between Musk and de Moraes have been ongoing. In April, de Moraes launched an investigation into X after Musk reactivated accounts that had been previously blocked due to misinformation concerns. Many of these accounts were linked to supporters of Brazil’s former right-wing President, Jair Bolsonaro.

In defense of its actions, X stated that while it does not expect other countries to adopt U.S. free speech laws, it refuses to violate Brazil's own laws as demanded by the judge. The platform plans to publish all court orders and related documents in response to the ruling.

Brazilian law requires major social media platforms to have a legal representative within the country, and this is not the first time such platforms have faced temporary bans in Brazil, with Telegram and WhatsApp having been similarly targeted in the past.

Moreover, Starlink, another Musk-affiliated company under SpaceX, reported that de Moraes had also issued an order to freeze its finances. Starlink criticized this action, asserting that it was based on an unfounded claim that it should be held accountable for fines imposed on X.

This situation underscores the ongoing tension between Musk and Brazilian authorities over free speech and legal compliance in the digital space.