In Brazil, social network 𝕏 (formerly Twitter) announced the closure of its local operations, a decision attributed to legal demands that, according to the platform, would force them to violate Brazilian, Argentine, U.S. and international laws in secret.
“Due to Alexandre de Moraes' 'Justice' demands in Brazil that would force us to break (in secret) Brazilian, Argentine, U.S. and international law, 𝕏 has no choice but to close its local operations in Brazil. It is a disgrace to justice,” Elon Musk said in his account on that social network.
He added: “The decision to close 𝕏's office in Brazil was difficult, but, if we had agreed to Alexandre's (illegal) demands for secret censorship and handing over private information, there would be no way to explain our actions without embarrassing ourselves.”
The reasons behind this measure are centered on the legal demands imposed by the Brazilian justice system. According to 𝕏, complying with these demands would imply acting against a set of legislations from different countries, which put them at a crossroads that culminated in the determination to end their operations in Brazil.
X claims that Moraes secretly threatened one of its legal representatives in Brazil with arrest if it did not comply with court orders to remove some content from its platform. Brazil's Supreme Federal Court, where Moraes sits, did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters.
The X service is still available to the Brazilian population, billionaire Elon Musk's platform said Saturday.
The platform said in a statement published on the same social network that De Moraes “does not respect the law or due process” by issuing “censorship” orders to remove content.
For this reason, X assured that it is closing the office to “protect” its employees, although it clarified that the platform will continue to operate in Brazil.
“His (De Moraes') actions are incompatible with a democratic government,” said the platform, which published a portion of a court ruling issued on Friday in which X is again ordered to remove several profiles.
In the document, the magistrate states that the company did not heed previously issued orders and insists that, if it does not comply, its representative in Brazil will face a daily fine of 20,000 reais (about $3,600) and imprisonment for disobedience.
Musk himself added in another message that the magistrate “must go” and supported the calls of the Brazilian ultra-right to initiate an 'impeachment' process against him.
He also posted an image where he compared De Moraes to Voldemort, the villain from the Harry Potter book saga. “The resemblance is uncanny. Alexandre de Voldemort,” the owner of the social network X joked.
De Moraes is in charge of an investigation into the spread of fake news and, when he presided over the Superior Electoral Court, he ordered the removal of hundreds of publications on X that questioned the soundness of the Brazilian electoral system in the run-up to the 2022 elections.
In addition, the magistrate is leading another inquiry against former president Jair Bolsonaro (2019-2022) for his alleged participation in a coup attempt after losing the elections to Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
These actions have earned him the antipathy of the former Brazilian president's supporters and he has become a frequent target of attacks during far-right demonstrations.
Argentine President Javier Milei alluded to this conflict on his X profile by reposted a post that reads: “Last night, Alexandre de Moraes threatened X's legal representative in Brazil with arrest if he did not comply with his orders to censor accounts (one of them is Fernando Cerimedo's). To protect the safety and integrity of the team, Elon Musk made the decision to shut down all its operations in Brazil immediately. At the time, Chancellor Diana Mondino with Javier Milei had made the Argentine Embassy available as a refuge for X employees who were under threat of imprisonment. At the time, Elon Musk would have been grateful, but they definitely decided to leave the country”.
Argentine businessman Fernando Cerimedo, one of the brains behind Milei's election campaign, also expressed himself in X against the Brazilian judge. “De Moraes you will end up in prison. There is no corner in the world where you can take refuge, you destroyed entire families. You hijacked Brazilian democracy and administered freedom of expression to your liking. The world no longer tolerates tyrants like you. And there is no turning back, not only do we want you out of the system, but we also want you behind bars as the criminal you are”.
