More details are emerging in the ongoing feud between X and its owner Elon Musk and Brazilian authorities over the latter’s censorship policies – a public dispute in which the US House of Representatives is now formally involved.
X has been subpoenaed by the House Judiciary Committee regarding censorship orders the company has been getting from Brazil, and the X Global Government Affairs announced that the company has complied with the request.
“X Corp. has been formally subpoenaed by the US House of Representatives Judiciary Committee to provide information on orders from the Brazilian Supreme Court regarding content moderation. To comply with its obligations under US law, X Corp. has responded to the Committee,” the post reads.
Commenting on this development and a statement that noted X Corp responded in line with US law, Musk effectively remarked that there are other US laws his company is bound by: for example, those preventing participation in “corruption that violates the laws of other countries.”
And that, according to Musk, is exactly what the face of Brazil’s internet censorship, Alexandre de Moraes, is demanding of X.
Those now in power in Brazil don’t refer to the court orders as part of a broader censorship effort, but as “content moderation”; however, Musk has in the past weeks revealed that these orders concern silencing sitting members of Brazil’s parliament and prominent journalists, and others, while never providing reasons why their accounts should be suspended.
And there was previously a gag order preventing X from talking about any of this, which Musk clearly decided to single-handedly lift.
Moraes may be a Supreme Court (STF) Justice in Brazil, as well as president of the Superior Electoral Court (TSE), but when Musk decided to put his foot down on what seem to have been relentless censorship demands, the X owner had no problem referring to him as a “dictator” and the country’s appeals mechanisms as a “farce,” among other things.
In response, Moraes issued another order – to investigate X and Musk under something called “digital militias” rules, for “obstruction of justice.”
The main thrust of Moraes’ efforts seems to be to silence those voices who criticize or question the integrity of Brazil’s 2023 presidential election.
To achieve that, the powerful Brazilian official wants to prevent X from reactivating banned accounts (something Musk said would be done) – and if done, Moraes said it will cost X $20,000 per what one might call, “a liberated account.”
Meanwhile, Musk is promising “a full data dump” regarding this crisis – once X employees in Brazil, who are reportedly in danger of being arrested, are “in a safe space.”
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