Social network X allowed to resume operations immediately in Brazil, but will have to pay $1.9 million

Elon Musk’s social network X, which petitioned the Supreme Court of Brazil to lift the block, may soon resume work in the country, but on the condition that it pays a fine of 10 million reais (about $1.9 million) in addition to the previously recovered in the amount of 18.3 million reais ($3.4 million). The previous fine was withheld in September from the accounts of X and satellite operator SpaceX Starlink, Bloomberg reported.

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The new fine was imposed on Friday by Brazilian Supreme Court Judge Alexandre de Moraes as punishment for X’s failure to comply with a court order banning activities in the country from August 30, including through the satellite Internet provider Starlink. .

«Therefore, due to X Brasil’s failure to comply with the court order within two days, the company must pay a fine of 10 million reais so that it can immediately resume its activities on national territory,” Moraes said in a statement. Also, according to the court’s decision, the company’s recently appointed legal representative in Brazil, Rachel de Oliveira Villa Nova Conceição, must pay a fine of 300,000 reais ($55.2 thousand).

Moraes stressed that the resumption of the social network in Brazil “depends solely on full compliance with Brazilian legislation and absolute compliance with court rulings regarding national sovereignty.”

In asking the court to lift its ban on operations in Brazil, social network X said it had complied with previous orders and suspended nine accounts allegedly responsible for spreading hate speech and fake news.