Brazil’s Supreme Court has escalated its conflict with Elon Musk’s X (formerly Twitter) and Starlink by imposing daily fines of about $920,000 for not following a ban on the social media platform in the country. The fines will start on September 19, and both X and Starlink could be held responsible.
The conflict began when X was banned in August for breaking Brazilian laws that require social media platforms to have a legal representative in the country and remove harmful content that threatens democratic institutions. X also failed to suspend accounts accused of doxxing federal officers. The ban was upheld in early September, but despite this, X became accessible again to users in mid-September.
How X Circumvented the Ban
X explained that the service reactivation was an accident caused by changing network providers to serve Latin America. This change made it harder for Brazilian internet providers to block X, as the company switched from static IP addresses to dynamic ones, using Cloudflare’s servers. In response, Brazil’s telecommunications regulator, Anatel, was ordered to block access to X by disabling Cloudflare, Fastly, and EdgeUno servers, which were used to bypass the original suspension.
A spokesperson for Cloudflare stated that they do not control blocking measures and that many clients, including X, use dedicated IP addresses, which is common in the industry.
Although X said it did not intend to restore access for Brazilian users, the company has been working with the government to resolve the situation. The platform is expected to go offline again soon. X has also started to comply with Brazil’s legal demands, including suspending some accounts under investigation for spreading misinformation and promoting attacks on democratic institutions.
The daily fines will continue to accumulate until X fully adheres to the court’s rulings, adding pressure on both X and Starlink to comply with the ban.
Featured Image courtesy of Jorge Silva/REUTERS
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