Brazil blocked social network X and imposed a huge fine for accessing it via VPN

Brazilian Supreme Court Judge Alexandre de Moraes ruled to block the social network X in the country. An attempt to access the platform through a VPN will be punishable by a daily fine of 50 thousand reais ($8.9 thousand).

Image source: Gerd Altmann / pixabay.com

The National Communications Agency was ordered to stop the operation of the social network in Brazil within 24 hours, and Apple and Google were ordered to remove the platform application from their stores within five days. Previously, Judge Moraes gave X management 24 hours to appoint a legal representative in the country – the Brazilian office of the social network ceased work in early August. The platform administration expected to be blocked because it refused to “comply with illegal orders to censor political opponents.” Judge Moraes, X’s management reported, threatened the platform representative with prison, and after she left her post, he froze her accounts.

About 40 million Brazilians use social network X at least once a month, according to estimates from the research company Emarketer. The conflict between the platform and the country’s authorities erupted over the refusal to block accounts – their list included current legislators who support the country’s former president Jair Bolsonaro, and individuals who were accused of undermining democracy. The day before it became known that the Brazilian accounts of the satellite provider Starlink, owned by Elon Musk’s company SpaceX, which is also the owner of the social network X, were frozen.