Elon Musk’s social media platform, X, has announced it will cease its operations in Brazil following a legal dispute with Alexandre de Moraes, a judge on Brazil’s Supreme Court.
X alleges that Moraes issued secret orders demanding the removal of specific content from the platform and threatened to take legal action against the company’s representatives in Brazil if they did not comply.
In response, Musk stated, “The decision to close the 𝕏 office in Brazil was difficult, but if we had agreed to [Justice Alexandre Moraes’s] illegal secret censorship and private information handover demands, there was no way we could explain our actions without being ashamed.”
However, while X’s office in Brazil is closing, the platform itself will remain accessible to Brazilian users. The company says this decision is meant to protect its employees from legal trouble, not to completely stop serving users in Brazil.
Musk’s decision has stirred up controversy, especially among supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro, who have been critical of Moraes. Bolsonaro supporter Nikolas Ferreira has called for Moraes’s removal, and Musk has supported this idea, saying that Moraes is not acting fairly.
Besides the situation in Brazil, Musk is facing other issues. His new AI project, GrokAI, has been criticized for creating troubling content, including misleading and violent material.
Musk is also dealing with legal problems involving the United Auto Workers Union and former President Donald Trump, as well as a complaint from Olympic medalist Imane Khelif, who accuses Musk, Trump, and J.K. Rowling of being involved in a smear campaign against her.