Brazil Supreme Court initiates inquiry into Elon Musk’s activities

• Musk lifted restrictions on X accounts, deeming the court order unconstitutional.
• Musk’s Global Government Affairs team prohibited the company from disclosing which accounts were affected.
• The accounts were believed to be linked to far-right movements and posted content related to riots in January 2021.

After Elon Musk announced his intention to reactivate accounts on the social media platform X, formerly Twitter, which a Brazilian Supreme Court judge had ordered to be blocked, the judge initiated an inquiry into Musk’s actions. Musk posted on the platform that the restrictions had been lifted because he deemed the court order unconstitutional.

Elon Musk also called Justice Alexandre de Moraes to “resign or face impeachment”. If X fails to comply with the order, it will face fines of 100,000 reais ($19,774; £15,670) per day. In his decision, Justice Moraes stated that Mr. Musk had initiated a disinformation campaign against the Supreme Court.

The platform’s Global Government Affairs team stated that the company was prohibited from disclosing which accounts were affected. However, Mr. Musk subsequently posted that “X will publish everything demanded by [Moraes] and how those requests violate Brazilian law”.

Believed to have been linked to far-right movements, the profiles posted content related to riots on 8 January last year when thousands of supporters of Brazil’s former President Jair Bolsonaro stormed the country’s Congress, the Supreme Court, and the presidential palace. Justice Moraes gained prominence through his decisions to restrict social media platforms in the country.

He is also investigating Mr. Bolsonaro and his supporters for their roles in an alleged attempted coup d’état. On Saturday, the former president posted a video of a meeting he had with Mr. Musk in May 2022. Hours earlier, Mr. Bolsonaro also issued a call for his supporters to gather on 21 April.

Meanwhile, Brazil’s communication minister Paulo Pimenta criticized Mr. Musk, posting capital letters that “social networks are not a lawless land”.

“We will not allow anyone, regardless of the money and power they have, to affront our homeland,” he added.

According to Bruna Santos, the global campaigns manager at the nonprofit organization Digital Action, if X disobeys the order, the platform could face temporary blocking.

“Musk acted to provoke the Brazilian judiciary,” she said. “I think there is a real chance that X might get blocked.”

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