X Resumes Service in Brazil After Five-Week Ban

Elon Musk’s social media platform, X, is returning online in Brazil after the Supreme Court lifted a five-week ban that blocked users in the country from accessing the platform.

Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes confirmed on Tuesday that regulators could reinstate X’s services following the company’s compliance with legal demands. The ruling concludes a prolonged standoff between X and Brazilian authorities, specifically Moraes, who had ordered the platform to block certain accounts deemed problematic by the court.

X initially resisted these orders, labeling them as censorship, which led to legal consequences, including blocking the platform and freezing Starlink’s Brazilian bank accounts. The company eventually complied, agreeing to take down the targeted accounts and pay nearly $5 million in fines. Brazilian internet service providers had enforced the ban due to X’s refusal to adhere to court orders, which also included the absence of a legal representative for the company in Brazil.

The dispute between X and the Brazilian Supreme Court gained further attention when Musk accused the court of stifling conservative voices, a stance he has voiced against globally. However, facing mounting legal pressure, X relented and followed the court’s directives. Along with agreeing to remove the specified accounts, X appointed a legal representative in Brazil, which played a key role in lifting the ban.

During the standoff, X briefly resurfaced online after it switched to Cloudflare as its cloud service provider, which enabled the platform to bypass the ban momentarily. Cloudflare’s CEO remarked that this workaround was a coincidence, but the return was short-lived and ended up costing Musk close to $2 million.

X Reaffirms Commitment to Free Speech

Following the resolution, X issued a statement, emphasizing the importance of providing tens of millions of Brazilians access to the platform while maintaining its commitment to freedom of speech within legal boundaries.