As we previewed overnight, Elon Musk's X has been ordered 'immediately suspended' by Brazilian Supreme Court Judge Alexandre de Moraes, citing the company's refusal to comply with a legal order to censor the judge's political opponents, Bloomberg reports.
Officially, the ruling was due to Musk's refusal to name a legal representative for the social network (after the judge froze his last attorney's bank accounts).
On Thursday, X's global government affairs account said that it would "not comply in secret with illegal orders," and said that it would publish Moraes' demands and related court documents for transparency.
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When we attempted to defend ourselves in court, Judge de Moraes threatened our Brazilian legal representative with imprisonment. Even after she resigned, he froze all of her bank accounts. Our challenges against his manifestly illegal actions were either dismissed or ignored. Judge de Moraes’ colleagues on the Supreme Court are either unwilling or unable to stand up to him.
We are absolutely not insisting that other countries have the same free speech laws as the United States. The fundamental issue at stake here is that Judge de Moraes demands we break Brazil’s own laws. We simply won’t do that.
In the days to come, we will publish all of Judge de Moraes’ illegal demands and all related court filings in the interest of transparency.
Unlike other social media and technology platforms, we will not comply in secret with illegal orders.
To our users in Brazil and around the world, X remains committed to protecting your freedom of speech.
On August 18, Moraes sanctioned X's bank accounts in order to guarantee the payment of fines imposed by the Brazilian justice for refusing to censor content, Metropoles reports.
According to information published by the G1 and confirmed by the Metropolis, advisors to the office of Minister Alexandre de Moraes said that another company under Musk in the country, Starlink Holding, responsible for the sale of satellite internet services, also had the finances blocked.
All Starlink managers in Brazil received notifications and were subpoenaed to answer for the values due to the Brazilian Justice by the network X. -Metropoles (translated)
In response, Musk called Moraes a dictator, and said "this picture of you in prison will be real. Mark my words."
Developing...