X shuts down Brazil operations

Social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, will shutter its local operations in Brazil due to a bitter legal tussle over the platform’s rights and responsibilities.

This was disclosed by its Chief Executive Officer, Elon Musk, on Saturday.

The service will remain available to Brazilian users.

The closure was the apparent culmination of an ongoing legal battle between Musk and Brazilian Supreme Court Judge, Alexandre de Moraes, who has said he is trying to fight the spread of dangerous disinformation online.

On Saturday, a post from X’s Global Government Affairs department said Moraes had “threatened our legal representative in Brazil with arrest if we do not comply with his censorship orders.”

It said the office closure became necessary “to protect the safety of our staff,” adding, “the responsibility lies solely with Alexandre de Moraes.”

The Brazilian government was critical of X’s stance, with Secretary of Digital Policies Joao Brant writing on the platform that the company had a “pathetic attitude.”

He added that X would force a “probable escalation that could lead to blocking of the platform.”

Moraes previously had ordered the suspension of several Twitter accounts suspected of spreading disinformation, including those of supporters of former far-right president Jair Bolsonaro, who tried to discredit the voting system in the 2022 presidential election, which he lost.

“Freedom of expression doesn’t mean freedom of aggression. “It doesn’t mean the freedom to defend tyranny”, Moraes has said.

Moraes has spearheaded the battle against disinformation in South America’s largest nation.

He presides over Brazil’s Superior Electoral Tribunal, and last year it declared Bolsonaro ineligible to run again for office, saying he had disseminated false information about the electoral system.

However, BusinessDay reported that the official handle (@officialEFFC) of the Economic Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) recently disappeared from X formerly known as Twitter.

The message “This account doesn’t exist” popped up when searching on the microblogging app. The reason for this primarily was yet to be ascertained by the agency.

However, Dele Oyewale, the EFCC spokesperson, had earlier disclosed that “It is just a network issue. Our IT people are attending to it and it will be back up soon.”