Thousands of protesters gathered across Brazil on Saturday to decry a controversial decision by Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who ordered the suspension of Elon Musk’s X (formerly Twitter) in the country. The ban came after a months-long standoff between Musk and Brazilian authorities over compliance with content moderation laws. This ruling is being seen by many, particularly supporters of former president Jair Bolsonaro, as an alarming infringement on free speech.
The protests, led by conservative groups and Bolsonaro loyalists, took place in major cities like São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. Participants rallied against what they describe as authoritarian overreach by the judiciary. Protesters carried banners denouncing censorship and hailing Musk as a free speech defender. Bolsonaro himself, still influential among Brazil’s right-wing, voiced his strong support for Musk and criticized Moraes for his repeated efforts to silence dissent.
Alexandre de Moraes attacks Brazilians from the political right, but there is civil disobedience, as the decisions issued by the dictator Moraes will not be followed, since everyone is using VPNs. On September 7th, they will take to the streets to protest for his impeachment. pic.twitter.com/bCAmc0d6fe
— End Wokeness Brazil🇧🇷🇺🇸🇮🇱🇮🇹🇸🇻🇦🇷 (@EndWokenessBR) September 5, 2024
The clash between Musk and the Brazilian judiciary dates back to earlier disputes regarding X's refusal to comply with orders to remove certain accounts accused of spreading misinformation. In August, X’s office in Brazil was shut down after the company refused to name a legal representative. This escalated the confrontation, with Moraes slapping X with hefty fines and ultimately issuing the suspension order in late August.
Justice Moraes’ move to ban X has been seen by critics as politically motivated. Moraes, who has aggressively pursued Bolsonaro supporters for spreading election misinformation, gave Brazil's telecommunications agency just 24 hours to enforce the ban. Apple and Google were also instructed to remove X from their app stores within five days, further heightening tensions.
Alexandre de Moraes attacks Brazilians from the political right, but there is civil disobedience, as the decisions issued by the dictator Moraes will not be followed, since everyone is using VPNs. On September 7th, they will take to the streets to protest for his impeachment. pic.twitter.com/bCAmc0d6fe
— End Wokeness Brazil🇧🇷🇺🇸🇮🇱🇮🇹🇸🇻🇦🇷 (@EndWokenessBR) September 5, 2024
While Brazil’s current left-wing president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, has largely supported the court's decision, the move has reignited a fierce debate about the limits of free speech and the role of social media in modern democracies. Lula’s government has defended the ban as necessary to curb the spread of dangerous disinformation, a growing concern following Bolsonaro supporters' storming of the Congress in January, an event reminiscent of the January 6 Capitol riots in the U.S.
Musk, a self-proclaimed "free speech absolutist," has pushed back against the court's orders, arguing that they constitute censorship. In an incendiary post on X, Musk mocked Moraes with an AI-generated image of the judge behind bars, predicting that Moraes would one day face imprisonment. This confrontation has bolstered Musk’s image as a defender of free expression among Brazil’s right, even as the tech mogul faces mounting challenges over content moderation policies globally.
X has millions of users in Brazil, one of its largest markets outside the United States and Japan. The platform has become particularly important in Brazil's political sphere, with politicians from all sides utilizing it for campaign purposes. The judicial ban, if upheld, threatens to deprive thousands of candidates of a key communication tool ahead of Brazil’s municipal elections in October.
The ban on X follows a broader trend in Brazil of cracking down on social media platforms that fail to comply with local regulations. In 2022, Telegram faced a similar temporary ban for not sharing data tied to extremist content. WhatsApp was also banned briefly in 2016 over non-compliance with data requests. However, the scale of the X ban, given its role as a major platform for political discourse, has drawn unprecedented backlash.
