Elon Musk's X Returns To Brazil As Supreme Court Lifts Ban

(RTTNews) - Billionaire Elon Musk's social media platform X has been cleared by Brazil's Supreme Court to resume services in the South American country after it had complied with the given orders and paid the imposed fine.

The platform, formerly known as Twitter, now has settled R$28.6 million or $5.2 million as fines, blocked profiles that disseminated false information, and appointed a legal representative in Brazil, as required by Brazilian law.

In his decision to lift the month-long ban, Justice Alexandre de Moraes said the authorization is for the immediate return of X's activities in the country. Justice determined that the National Telecommunications Agency, i.e., Anatel, take steps to resume the platform's service.

Responding to the court order, X's Global Government Affairs team in a post said, "X is proud to return to Brazil. Giving tens of millions of Brazilians access to our indispensable platform was paramount throughout this entire process. We will continue to defend freedom of speech, within the boundaries of the law, everywhere we operate."

It was on August 30 that the Federal Supreme Court or STF ordered immediate and complete suspension of the operation of X Brasil throughout the national territory due to repeated non-compliance with STF decisions. The platform earlier had refused to ban several accounts deemed by the government to be spreading misinformation about the Brazilian Presidential election in 2022.

In the investigation, which began in April 2024 after Musk stated that he would not suspend the accounts, the court noted that the illicit conduct was repeated, making it clear that X Brasil failed to comply with several court orders.

While blocking the social network, the minister in August had highlighted that the resumption of activities was conditioned solely on full compliance with Brazilian legislation, payment of the imposed fines, and until a representative of the company in the country is appointed.

A daily fine of R$50,000 was also set for individuals and companies that use 'technological subterfuges' to maintain the use of X, without prejudice to other sanctions in the civil and criminal spheres.

The court also had ordered Apple and Google to take steps to block the use of the X application by iOS and Android systems, in addition to removing it from their virtual stores.

Meanwhile, on September 27, X proved that it had fully complied with the conditions for resuming its activities, by deactivating accounts and paying the ordered fine.

The STF in its statement now noted that the Attorney General's Office, in its opinion, did not find any reason that would prevent the company from resuming its activities.