April 8 (UPI) — Elon Musk called for a judge on Brazil’s Supreme to quit or be impeached after Justice Alexandre de Moraes launched an inquiry into his X social media platform in an escalating row over misinformation dating back to the Jan. 8 riots in Brasilia in 2023.
In a post on X on Sunday, Musk, the owner and chief technology officer of the company, said court decisions forcing X to “block certain popular accounts in Brazil” along with a gagging order preventing X from talking about the action were unconstitutional and that the company would no longer comply.
“Coming shortly, X will publish everything demanded by de Moraes and how those requests violate Brazilian law. This judge has brazenly and repeatedly betrayed the constitution and people of Brazil. He should resign or be impeached,” Musk wrote.
“These are the most draconian demands of any country on Earth!”
But in a response to a late Saturday night post by Musk threatening to unblock the accounts, Moraes announced Sunday he was adding Musk to his ongoing investigation of “digital militias” and the opening of a fresh inquiry into Musk to “prevent the eventual practice of obstruction of justice, a criminal organization and incitement to crime.”
Accusing Musk of mounting a disinformation campaign against the Supreme Court, he imposed daily fines $19,775 for each profile reactivated by the platform.
X’s Global Government Affairs team said in a post that many of the details supporting the action had been obscured.
“We do not know the reasons these blocking orders have been issued. We do not know which posts are alleged to violate the law. We are prohibited from saying which court or judge issued the order, or on what grounds. We are prohibited from saying which accounts are impacted. We are threatened with daily fines if we fail to comply,” it wrote.
“We believe that such orders are not in accordance with the Marco Civil da Internet or the Brazilian Federal Constitution, and we will challenge the orders legally where possible.”
The accounts in question are thought to be connected to posts on X by far-right activists and figures that may have helped fuel the January 2023 storming of Congress, the Supreme Court and the presidential palace by thousands of rioters supporting former President Jair Bolsonaro.
Moraes is also investigating Bolsonaro and his supporters for their alleged involvement in an abortive coup to overthrow the result of the October 2022 presidential election that brought President Lula da Silva to office.
