BRASALIA, Brazil: Elon Musk’s social media platform X (formerly Twitter) has asked Brazil’s Supreme Court to lift its ban, stating it has complied with orders to stop the spread of misinformation. This comes after X was shut down in late August by Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who has been leading efforts against disinformation in Brazil.
Initially resistant, Musk’s platform made several conciliatory moves, including appointing a local legal representative and blocking nine accounts involved in a hate speech investigation. Musk, who had closed X’s offices in Brazil and criticized Moraes’ decisions, had used third-party cloud services to circumvent the ban, but that effort was short-lived.
Brazil is X’s sixth-largest market, with about 21.5 million users. Concerns over losing market share led Musk to adopt a more cooperative stance.
Musk’s retreat follows other global battles over free speech and misinformation, with countries like Australia and the UK also taking action against online disinformation. Analysts believe that while Musk may still challenge regulations, he will now pursue legal battles in court rather than defy local laws.
X’s return to Brazil is still pending court approval.
