Musk had already anticipated this yesterday when he published through his X account that the country was freezing Starlink’s accounts. This was a clear signal that the X app would be suspended soon and today the news has been confirmed.
The decision was taken by the top judge in the Brazilian Supreme Court after a legal battle with the platform. Musk was ordered to block several accounts known for spreading misinformation but X failed to do so, calling it a violation of free speech.
This did not sit well with Judge Alexandre de Moraes who was sick and tired of the constant feuds with the tech billionaire. The judge further imposed a daily fine of nearly $9000 for anyone using other means such as VPNs to evade this ban.
Elon Musk reacted to the news by rolling out some more controversial opinions including baseless conspiracies about the country’s voting machines. He also accused the government of bankrupting those who tried to promote truth.
Friday is when we first saw the country freezing Starlink’s accounts which meant no domestic transactions could be done. This is Musk’s satellite broadband service which links more than a quarter of a million users in the country.
It’s a big blow to X because Brazil is the second most populated nation in South America so that’s losing out on a lot of revenue and users. Clearly, Musk is not going to be happy.
Before Musk could announce shutting down operations in Brazil, it looks like the court acted swiftly to ensure things went down just like they had planned to do so. They felt the operations were undermining their democracy and they had proof of many accounts spreading false information.
We saw an incident taking place in January last year that was an insurrection similar to that seen on Capitol Hill on January 6. A lot of controversial elements and stories were published online that Brazil felt could further worsen matters in the country.
This ban is not the first time that we’ve seen lawmakers and authorities make similar threats in the past, calling out apps for noncompliance. In 2022, the same judge ordered a complete shutdown of Telegram in the nation. The reason was the same, it failed to combat misinformation.
In this case, Elon Musk has taken the threats and ban more seriously and on a more personal level. He criticized the judge in a hostile manner and has been feuding with him on several occasions now. Musk anticipated the ban but vowed to be more transparent about the matter with the world while vowing to take legal action.
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by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World
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