Brazil’s Supreme Court Judge Alexandre de Moraes has decided to block the local bank accounts of satellite provider Starlink amid a bitter standoff with the administration of social network X. Earlier, this judge threatened to block X herself.
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X owner Elon Musk has been refusing for several months to comply with Judge Moraes’ decision to block several accounts in Brazil. It got to the point that the social network curtailed all its operations in the country, as the businessman characterized the court rulings as “censorship orders.” The conflict reached a new level, and Judge Moraes tried to put pressure on Musk through the Starlink satellite operator, which belongs to his company SpaceX.
«This order rests on the baseless assertion that Starlink should be held accountable for injunctions imposed—unconstitutionally—on X. It was issued in secret and without providing Starlink with any due process guaranteed by the Brazilian Constitution. We intend to resolve the issue legally,” Starlink said.
Yesterday it became known that Judge Moraes intends to block the social network X in Brazil if the social network does not appoint a legal representative in the country. The platform administration stated that it was ready for such a turn of events. “We are not at all insisting that other countries have the same freedom of speech laws as the United States. The main issue here is that Judge de Moraes is asking us to violate Brazil’s own laws. We simply will not do this,” X said. The company also warned that in the coming days it intends to make public “Moraes’ illegal demands and all related court documents.”