SAO PAULO (AP) — Headline-grabbing billionaire Elon Musk faces a Judge of the Supreme Court in Brazil over free speech, far-right accounts and misinformation at X, the social media platform Musk bought when it was Twitter.
From his takeover, Musk flipped many of Twitter’s policies, gut your staff and transforms what people see on the site. As its owner and perhaps its most powerful user, he has also used it to try to influence political discourse around the world. His latest entanglement is in the nation of 203 million people, which has the largest population and economy in South America.
The South African-born CEO of Tesla and SpaceX bought Twitter in 2022 and declares himself a “free speech absolutist.” For its critics, this is absolutism with a political slant. He restore previously banned accounts such as conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and former US President Donald Trump, as well as accounts belonging to neo-Nazis and white supremacists. Advertisers who halted spending on X in response to anti-Semitic and other hateful material were engaging in “extortion”, Musk claims.
In the United States, free speech is a constitutional right that is far more permissive than in many countries, including Brazil, where Supreme Court Justice Alexander de Moraes this month ordered an investigation into Musk for spreading defamatory fake news and other investigation into possible obstruction, incitement and criminal organization.
WHAT ACCOUNTS HAS BRAZIL BLOCKED?
In Brazil, judges can order any site to remove content. Some decisions are sealed from the public.
Neither Brazilian courts nor X has revealed the list of accounts it has been ordered to stop posting, but prominent supporters of former president Jair Bolsonaro and far-right activists no longer appear on the platform.
Some belong to a network known as “digital militias”. They were targeted in a five-year investigation overseen by de Moraes, initially into allegations of spreading defamatory fake news and threats against Supreme Court judges, and then, after Bolsonaro’s loss in 2022, of inciting nationwide demonstrations that demanded to cancel The election of President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva.
WHO IS JUSTICE DE MORAES?
De Moraes is infallible, with his bald head, athletic build, and baggy black robes. In his escalating attacks on the judge, Musk called him the “Brazilian Darth Vader.”
Did investigation into former president Jair Bolsonarobanishing their far-right allies from social media or ordering the arrest of supporters who stormed government buildings on January 8, 2023Moraes has aggressively pursued those he sees as subversives The Young Brazilian Democracy.
Days after a mob stormed Brazil’s capital, de Moraes ordered Facebook, Twitter, Telegram, TikTok and Instagram to block the accounts of individuals accused of inciting or supporting attacks on Brazil’s democratic order.
FILE – The President of the Supreme Electoral Court, Judge Alexander de Moraes, speaks during the inauguration of the Center for Combating Disinformation and Defense of Democracy in Brasilia, Brazil, March 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres, File)
HOW FREEDOM OF SPEECH BECAME THE CAUSE OF THE FAR RIGHT IN BRAZIL?
Brazil’s political right has long characterized de Moraes as stifling free speech and engaging in political persecution. MPs from Bolsonaro’s entourage were jailed and the homes of his supporters were raided.
Bolsonaro himself became a target of the digital militia investigation in 2021. This was partly because he cast unfounded doubt on Brazil’s electronic voting system. That year he also told a huge rally that he would no longer abide by de Moraes’ decisions, pushing Brazil to the brink of an institutional crisis.
WHAT IS MUSK’S ROLE?
Far-right X users have been trying to get Musk involved in Brazilian politics for years, said Bruna Santos, a lawyer and campaign manager at the nonprofit Digital Action.
“They often tag him, asking him to take a stand on Moraes,” she said.
On Saturday, he did so, reposting a post from X’s Global Government Affairs, tagging de Moraes and writing: “Why are you doing this @alexandre?”
Musk posted on Saturday that restoring the accounts – most of which are apparently blocked only in Brazil – would “likely” cause the social media platform to dry up revenue in Brazil and force the company to close its local office.
In his decision to investigate Musk, de Moraes accused him of waging a public “disinformation campaign” about the high court’s actions.
IS MUSK A ‘FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION ABSOLUTIST’?
While Musk has pushed back against what he sees as censorship of certain viewpoints by the previous Twitter administration, he has also sought to silence critics with whom he disagrees, including journalists and non-profit organizations reporting their firms.
Musk accused journalists in late 2022 of sharing private information about his whereabouts, which he described as “basically the coordinates of a murder.” He did not provide evidence for this claim, although Musk previously decided to permanently ban an account which automatically tracks the flights of his private jet using publicly available data.
Last month, a the federal judge is fired a lawsuit by X against the nonprofit Center to Counter Digital Hate, which documents increase in hate speech on the site since it was acquired by Tesla’s owner.
X had argued this to the centre the researchers violated the site’s terms of service by miscompiling public tweets and that his subsequent reports of a rise in hate speech cost X million dollars when advertisers fled.
But U.S. District Court Judge Charles Breyer threw out the suit, writing in his order that it was “shameless and vociferous about one thing,” chastising the nonprofit for its speech.
HOW BIG IS X IN BRAZIL?
Brazil is a key market for X and other platforms. About 40 million Brazilians, or about 18% of the population, access X at least once a month, according to market research group eMarketer.
Twitter closed offices and laid off employees in Brazil in 2022 after Musk bought the company. It is unclear how many employees X has in Brazil.
X’s legal representatives in Brazil, the Pinheiro Neto law firm, declined to comment. X did not respond to a message for comment.
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?
That depends on the actions of Musk and X. If they recover the accounts in Brazil, the company will face fines – at the very least. While the fines generally haven’t swayed Musk, experts say they could increase and X could even face suspension.
“Fines can escalate, eventually leading to the suspension of the platform. But this is always the last resort, as it harms other users in Brazil,” said Filipe Medon, a data privacy lawyer and professor at the Getulio Vargas Foundation.
As for Musk – a foreign national with a US-based company – any action by Brazilian authorities would require legal cooperation with US authorities.
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Ortutay reported from San Francisco, California.
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This story has been corrected to reflect that freedom of speech is a constitutional right in Brazil.
