Brazil’s Supreme Court upheld a decision on Monday to ban the social media site formerly known as Twitter in the country after the site refused to comply with orders from a judge.
According to ABC, the decision is the latest escalation in a feud between Elon Musk and Justice Alexandre de Moraes involving Musk’s support of the far-right both in Brazil and globally, as well as allowing massive amounts of disinformation on the site, which he renamed X.
Justice Moraes ordered that X accounts in the country accused of spreading disinformation, many of which are allegedly tied to former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, be banned. Bolsonaro lost Brazil’s election in 2022 to current President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and his supporters and other far-right allies rioted in the country’s capital a week after Lula’s inauguration in 2023. Bolsonaro frequently made claims that the election was rigged.
"We have a right to defend fundamental rights. Those who violate democracy, who violate fundamental human rights, whether in person or through social media, must be held accountable," Moraes said in a speech on Friday, according to Reuters.
Moraes ordered the immediate suspension of X in Brazil until all related court orders were complied with and fines were paid.
Musk - who likes to call himself a “free speech absolutist” despite suspending or banning accounts on X he doesn’t like, along with imposing other restrictions on the site – likened Moraes to titular Harry Potter villain Voldemort. “He is a dictator and a fraud, not a justice,” Musk wrote on his own platform.
Brazil is one of the top ten countries in the world that uses X, with some 22 million users.
Within just four days of the initial ruling, X’s smaller, punchier rival Bluesky registered nearly 2 million new users, according to the Financial Times. Bluesky, founded in 2019 by former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, now boasts some 8 million users.
“Good job Brazil, you made the right choice,” wrote Bluesky CEO Jay Graber.
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