
A Brazilian judge has banned the use of social media platform X in the country after the company declined to name a legal representative over concerns that the official would be arrested.
The move comes as X, formerly Twitter, accuses officials within the Brazilian government of attempting to censor political opponents by demanding the removal of their profiles.
On Friday, Supreme Court Federal Court Minister Alexandre de Moraes officially suspended X’s ability to operate in the country, saying web service providers must block access to the platform under threat of financial penalty and possible criminal liability.
The judge also issued a fine of nearly $9,000 to anyone caught using a virtual private network (VPN) to access X within Brazil. VPN software typically helps a person conceal the location of their device by redirecting web traffic through one or more computer servers located in other parts of the world.
It isn’t clear how Brazilian officials intend to track whether a person uses a VPN to access X, or continues to use the social media platform through other means.
In a note on X’s Global Government Affairs webpage, a spokesperson said the order came after the platform decided it “would not comply with [a judge’s] illegal orders to censor his political opponents.”
“When we attempted to defend ourselves in court, Judge de Moraes threatened our Brazilian legal representative with imprisonment,” the spokesperson claimed. “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.”
X, as Twitter, previously acquiesced to legal demands involving the accounts of political opponents and dissidents in Brazil. Under the ownership of Elon Musk, X has been reticent to take similar action, with Musk preferring to wield his “ban hammer” against journalists and activists that he personally disagrees with, for purported violations of rules that are ever-changing.