Sept. 21 (UPI) — Billionaire Elon Musk has decided to comply with court orders in Brazil in an effort to end the ban on his his social platform X in the Latin American nation.
On Saturday, Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes said the company had not filed the proper documentation showing that it had appointed Rachel de Oliveira Conceicao as its Brazilian representative. The company was given five days to present documents validating her appointment.
And the judge also granted the court’s secretary 48 hours to verify if earlier orders were respected. Then the court will decide whether to reinstate X.
The ban began on Aug. 30.
The company said Friday it is complying with other orders.
The company formerly known as Twitter also informed the court that it blocked accounts allegedly responsible for disseminating hate speech and fake news, two sources told Bloomberg.
Musk, who also owns SpaceX and Tesla, has expressed outrage at the ban.
“Free speech is the bedrock of democracy and an unelected pseudo-judge in Brazil is destroying it for political purposes,” Musk posted on X on Aug. 30.
Moraes opened a criminal inquiry into Musk and accused him of spreading disinformation.
On Thursday, the platform abruptly became accessible to Brazilian users after an automatic update switched the way it directs traffic, the country’s association of internet providers said.
Moraes ordered X to restore a block on its site or face fines of $907,000 a day, accusing it of attempting to “disobey” the court.
About 40 million of Brazil’s 215 million citizens used X, which has more than 550 million monthly users.
Brazil also has about 250,000 Starlink subscribers and is popular among the nation’s rural citizens and indigenous tribes in the Amazon region.
Brazil last week withdrew $3 million from local bank accounts of X and the satellite internet provider Starlink to pay for fines imposed by the Supreme Court.
“Unless the Brazilian government returns the illegally seized property of X and SpaceX, we will seek reciprocal seizure of government assets too. Hope Lula enjoys flying commercial.” Musk posted on Sept. 2
