Brazil's Supreme Court blocks Elon Musk's Starlink accounts over threat of possible ban X
Kyiv • UNN
The court froze Elon Musk's Starlink accounts due to the absence of an X representative in Brazil. Musk accused Judge Moraes of censorship and called him “a criminal masquerading as a judge.
On Thursday, the Brazilian Supreme Court blocked the bank accounts of American entrepreneur Elon Musk's Starlink Internet firm because of the hostility to his social media platform X. This was reported by Reuters, according to UNN.
Details
Starlink is a satellite Internet service of the rocket technology company SpaceX, which is part of Musk's extensive business empire, which also includes the electric car giant Tesla. The billionaire is the owner of X and CEO of Tesla (TSLA.O), opens a new tab.
The internet company confirmed that it had received an order from a judge preventing the company from conducting financial transactions in Brazil and said in a post on X that it would respond to the order.
The court's decision, signed by Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, to impose sanctions on Starlink is a response to the lack of legal representatives of X in Brazil, a Supreme Court source told Reuters.
The decision to freeze Starlink's accounts also stems from a separate dispute over unpaid fines that X was ordered to pay because it failed to provide some documents. The local newspaper Folha reported that the total amount of fines is at least $3.6 million, but Reuters was unable to confirm this amount.
The Supreme Court said that the time given to Musk's popular social media platform to name its legal representative in Brazil expires at 20:07 on Thursday.
The message added that the staff would check whether X had provided any legal response.
Context
In an escalating dispute, the dispute is whether Moraes can order the social media platform to block certain accounts accused of spreading lies and distortions, a request that Musk has denounced as censorship.
Most of the accounts ordered to be blocked are run by supporters of far-right former President Jair Bolsonaro, some of whom deny that he lost his bid for re-election in 2022.
Brazilian law requires all Internet companies to have a legal representative in the country who can receive court orders and otherwise be legally responsible for the business.
On Wednesday evening, Moraes signed an order for X to name his legal representative, otherwise he faces suspension from working in the country.
In a post on X, Musk complained that Moraes “is an outright criminal of the worst kind masquerading as a judge.
In a separate publication, Starlink accused the judge of issuing the order in secret without due process.
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