Brazilian Supreme Court judge Alexandre de Moraes on Friday ordered the suspension of the social network X in retaliation for not appointing a legal representative in the South American giant, in a new escalation of the dispute with Elon Musk’s business conglomerate.
De Moraes has already notified the National Telecommunications Agency of the decision, which now has 24 hours to implement it. In addition, Apple and Google’s online stores must withdraw the X application within a maximum of five days.
The judge decrees daily fines of up to 50,000 reais (about 8,000 euros) against people or companies that use alternative measures to circumvent the ban and access X, the social network formerly called Twitter and now owned by tycoon Elon Musk, reports the news portal G1.
The company, which is being sued in Brazil for fines of 18 million reals (around 2.9 million euros) for not removing content, had already assumed that it was only a matter of hours before De Moraes ordered the closure. In a statement, it warned that it “will not comply with illegal orders to censor political opponents.”
Musk has also attacked the judge in recent hours, with messages in which he has called him a “dictator” and a “criminal of the worst kind.” The businessman considers the president of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, to be “his lapdog.”
