X and Brazil – more precisely, X and Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes – are at it again.
The US company behind the social platform is accusing Moraes, known as an online censorship proponent, of putting more pressure on X.
The case concerns an order issued by Moraes for X to delete posts critical of a Brazilian politician, House Speaker Arthur Lira, and pay a fine equivalent to $18,000 (100,000 real).
X’s Global Government Affairs account posted that the platform complied with the law of the land, that is, this order the same day (within six hours), having been given what is described as an unreasonable, 2-hour deadline to do this.
Then, according to X, Moraes changed his mind regarding the fine. The original order said that the $18,000 was a daily penalty (for each day of failure to comply).
But then, Moraes decided that the fine would be $126,000 (700,000 real) – and explained this “reimagining” of the provisions of the first order. Now the $18,000 fine was to be paid per offending post, not the number of days they remained on X.
The Global Government Affairs said that the company respected Brazil’s law when it – pending a Supreme Court appeal – “withheld” the posts and paid the fine as set originally.
X owner Elon Musk’s reaction to this was to sum the situation up as, “the law (namely, Moraes and the institutions he represents) violating the law.”
X Corp CEO Linda Yaccarino also addressed the issue, stating, “We hope the Supreme Court will urgently address this issue.”
The Global Government Affairs team said they expected the decision to be overturned.
“Moraes’ attempt to increase the fine to 700,000 real ex post facto and in contradiction with his own prior order represents a clear denial of due process and should be overturned on appeal,” the post reads.
Meanwhile, according to the Brazilian press, Moraes issued the June 13 order at Lira’s request. The posts that rubbed the Brazilian House speaker the wrong way referred to him as a “rapist” – an accusation made by his ex-wife, with the allegation thrown out in 2015 by the Supreme Court.
The posts reviving this episode now seem to have coincided with internal political strife, this time around limiting the time within which abortions in cases of rape are legal (legislation supported by Lira).
As for Moraes, his priority seems to be going after X, regardless of the context: as reports recall, he previously “authorized an investigation of Musk for obstruction of justice, incitement of criminal activity, and the willful criminal instrumentalization” of X.
