Satellite Internet provider Starlink, owned by Elon Musk’s SpaceX, told Brazil’s National Telecommunications Agency (Anatel) that it will not block social network X following a court order. At a minimum, until the service’s recently frozen assets are unblocked, The New York Times writes, citing a statement by Anatel President Carlos Baigorri in an interview with the local publication Globo News.
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Baigorri clarified that Starlink lawyers reported the refusal to block X in the country, but he has not yet received an official notification. He said that he had already informed the judge of the Supreme Court of Brazil, Alexandre de Moraes, who made a decision to block the social network X in the country, and also noted that the agency could revoke Starlink’s license to operate in Brazil, which “hypothetically” could interfere with the service provide services to Brazilian clients.
If Starlink continues service after the license is revoked, Anatel could confiscate Starlink equipment installed at the country’s 23 ground stations that serve to improve communications quality, Baigorri said.
Starlink filed a petition with the Brazilian Supreme Court to unfreeze its assets, but the court rejected it, after which the company said it would provide Internet to its customers in Brazil for free while it was prohibited from making transactions.
Starlink has become very popular in Brazil since it began operations in 2022. The service is particularly well suited to the vast rural areas of Brazil and the Amazon rainforest. People living in the Amazon region, including remote indigenous tribes, were able to use Starlink to access the Internet for the first time, changing their way of life. Currently, Starlink has about 250 thousand customers in the country.
Apparently, Musk is not going to give in in the conflict with Judge Moraes, since on Saturday he began to fulfill his threat to publish his secret orders on social network X demanding that the accounts of individual opposition representatives be blocked.