“Elon Musk did not respect Brazil’s sovereignty. Shutting down ‘X’ is justified.”
(Alexandre Gimorais, Justice of the Supreme Court of Brazil)
“Justice Giorgio Ramos, who banned X in Brazil, is not a judge, he is a ‘dictator’.”
(Elon Musk X owner and Tesla CEO)
The Brazilian Supreme Court’s ruling on the 30th of last month (local time) to ban the domestic use of the American social media X has intensified the already serious conflict between the left and right in Brazilian politics. Left-wing President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva welcomed the Supreme Court’s decision, saying, “The Supreme Court’s action is legitimate,” but right-wing former President Jair Bolsonaro, known as the “Brazil’s Trump,” countered, saying, “This measure infringes on freedom of expression and damages the quality of information delivered to citizens.” Currently, about 40 million people, or 20% of the Brazilian population, use X.
Justice Alexandre De Morais (56), who has been a Supreme Court Justice since 2017, stated on this day that the reasons for the service suspension include that X aided and abetted the spread of false information during this year’s local elections and the 2022 presidential election, and that it has repeatedly and deliberately ignored court orders. In particular, he criticized CEO Musk for “acting as if he were a supranational entity, showing disrespect for Brazilian sovereignty, especially the judiciary.”
Accordingly, access to X has been unavailable in Brazil since the 31st. Also, if you are caught accessing X through a virtual private network (VPN), you will have to pay a fine of 50,000 reais (approximately 12 million won) per day. The Brazilian assets of Starlink, a satellite internet company owned by CEO Musk, will also be frozen.
The Brazilian Supreme Court functions as a constitutional court. A total of 11 justices can also serve until the age of 75, which is considered virtually a lifelong system. In particular, unlike many countries that have adopted a ‘consensual system’, one justice can directly make a single ruling on individual cases, such as imposing a fine. Justice Zimorais has been making rulings on the operation of online services such as social media since October 2022.
His decision has received extremely mixed reactions from Brazilian politicians. The right wing has criticized him for “politicizing the judiciary,” while the left wing has praised him as “the defender of democracy.” According to AFP, other than Brazil, authoritarian countries such as North Korea, China, Russia, Iran, and Turkmenistan have blocked X.
Musk, who supports Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump in the November U.S. presidential election, also took aim at Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris, who is critical of Big Tech. He told X, “If Harris wins, something similar could happen in the United States.”
Reporter Kim Bo-ra [email protected]
New York = Correspondent Im Woo-sun [email protected]
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2024-09-02 01:41:33