Elon Musk’s fight with Brazil and its Supreme Court is escalating. Starlink, a satellite internet business, said it was being prevented from conducting financial transactions in the country.
Alexandre de Moraes, the Supreme Court Justice, and Musk have been feuding since April when Moraes announced he was investigating the businessman for obstruction of justice after Musk said he would ignore a court order to block some X accounts.
The accounts are accused of spreading lies and distortions and are mostly run by far-right individuals and digital militias supporting former President Jair Bolsonaro. Musk – as always – is denouncing alleged censorship.
When the world’s richest man challenged the court decision and directed harsh criticism toward Moraes, Brazil responded by opening an inquiry. Already in April, the government said it would review the contracts it had with Starlink – and they’re now frozen.
Officially, the court's decision to sanction Starlink, signed by Moraeis, is a response to X's lack of legal representatives in Brazil, a Supreme Court source told Reuters. It’s also related to a separate dispute over unpaid fines that X was ordered to pay due to its failure to turn over some documents.
For its part, Starlink said the order to freeze its local finances in Brazil was issued in secret and without due process, which is guaranteed by Brazil’s constitution. The company plans to address the matter legally.
Earlier this week we received an order from Brazil’s Supreme Court Justice @alexandre de Moraes that freezes Starlink’s finances and prevents Starlink from conducting financial transactions in that country
undefined Starlink (@Starlink) August 29, 2024
In 2022, Starlink negotiated a contract to provide internet access to 19,000 schools in remote areas of Brazil. Musk even met with Bolsonaro.
Musk is now raging and lashing out at Moraes. The billionaire called the Justice an “evil dictator cosplaying as a judge” in a post on X, attached to a company announcement that it thought Brazil would soon “order X to be shut down” in the country.
Alexandre de Moraes is an evil dictator cosplaying as a judge. https://t.co/ZIV8KbDCmk
undefined Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 30, 2024
As a gesture, Musk said SpaceX will continue to provide internet service to users in Brazil for free “until this matter is resolved.”
It’s doubtful that X actually wants to lose one of its largest and most coveted markets at a time when Musk has struggled with advertising for the platform. It's widely used in Brazil and is an important means of communication, particularly for politicians.
In the country, some X users have criticized the ruling signed by Moraes, arguing he was undermining freedom of speech, while others side with Moraes, insisting that Musk must comply with Brazilian law.
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