X reverses course in Brazil

X (formerly Twitter), owned by Elon Musk, complies with Brazil Supreme Court directives after legal disputes over election misinformation.

: X, owned by Elon Musk, reversed its stance in a dispute with Brazil’s Supreme Court. The platform complied by blocking accounts, paying fines, and appointing a new representative. Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes’ investigation into election misinformation started the conflict. Brazilian users turned to alternatives like Bluesky and Tumblr during the ban.

X, the social network owned by Elon Musk and formerly known as Twitter, has reversed its course in its conflict with Brazil’s Supreme Court. The company complied with the court’s orders by blocking designated accounts, paying fines, and naming a new formal representative in the country.

This dispute originated from an investigation by Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes into election misinformation, which led to orders for X to block certain accounts. While X initially appeared to comply, it eventually shut down operations in Brazil, prompting Moraes to ban the service and threaten users with fines for evading the ban via VPN.

Earlier this week, X resumed operations in Brazil, a move that coincided with a switch to Cloudflare infrastructure that Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince described as coincidental. The ban drove Brazilian users to seek alternatives, significantly boosting the popularity of platforms like Bluesky and Tumblr. Despite the recent developments, neither Elon Musk nor X’s Global Government Affairs account has publicly commented on the situation.