“Elon Musk’s social media platform X is caught in legal trouble in Brazil after ignoring a government suspension and entering earlier this month. Although X said it was unknowingly breaking the moratorium, a court in Brazil has fined the company and its booster, SpaceX, for circumventing the regulation. The case adds to the tension between tech giants and authorities over what content should be shown or withheld.”
After successfully circumventing a recent ban on the social media platform X, Brazil has issued significant fines against Elon Musk’s companies. said ban prohibiting access to the platform in Brazil was only temporarily overturned when some users found a way to access the platform when a server’s configuration was modified.
Brazilian officials implemented fines against X and Starlink, which is Musk’s satellite internet company, in the millions of reais on account of their circumvention of the ban. X and Starlink have a history engaging in disregard of court orders in Brazil, including directives of the original ban on X, which sparked the fines.
X has indicated that the use of and access to the platform was accidental and that they are engaged to comply with Brazilian law going forward. However, some believe this change in usage was on purpose.
This development leaves many questions unanswered – notably what the future is for businesses and users in Brazil as the confrontation between Musk’s companies and the Brazilian government arises from millions of Brazilians not being able to access a social media platform and fines that could cause long term financial damage for the companies.
