Musk’s Clash With Brazil Deepens, Threatening X And Starlink

(Bloomberg) -- Fallout from the clash between Elon Musk and a justice on Brazil’s top court spread across the billionaire’s companies as the judge vowed to shut down X and blocked Starlink bank accounts in Latin America’s largest economy.

Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes is spearheading efforts to combat fake news and hate speech in Brazil. Musk and conservatives including former President Jair Bolsonaro say the judge is overstepping his bounds and undermining free speech.

The order to block the bank accounts of Musk’s satellite internet provider was issued by Moraes on Aug. 18, according to local news website G1, which described the decision as a bid to force his company to pay for fines imposed on social media platform X. 

A person with knowledge of the situation at the Supreme Court confirmed the report. Starlink, the internet service run by SpaceX, says it has a quarter million customers in Brazil. 

In an appeal filed Friday, Starlink Brazil Holding LTDA asked the Supreme Court to lift the order, arguing that the internet business isn’t part of the case against X. Later Justice Cristiano Zanin denied the appeal and kept the financial assets block.

Musk lashed out at Moraes, calling him a criminal “masquerading as a judge” in a post on X.

Starlink confirmed in a series of posts on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, that an order from Moraes froze the company’s finances and prevented it from conducting financial transactions in Brazil.

“This order is based on an unfounded determination that Starlink should be responsible for the fines levied — unconstitutionally — against X,” the company said, adding it intends “to address the matter legally.”

In a later X post, Musk said that “SpaceX will provide internet service to users in Brazil for free until this matter is resolved.”

Moraes on Wednesday threatened to block X in Brazil if the company didn’t appoint a legal representative in the country by Thursday night.

The decision came days after the platform said it would close its operations in Brazil, while keeping the service available to its estimated 20 million active users in the country.

Musk responded to the order with an apparently AI-generated picture of a man resembling Moraes behind bars. “One day, Alexandre, this picture of you in prison will be real. Mark my words,” Musk posted.

Close to the deadline set by the judge, X’s Global Government Affairs’ account stated in a post on X that it wouldn’t comply with Moraes’ “illegal orders.” Until early afternoon on Friday, X had been operating normally in Brazil.

The US Embassy in Brazil said in a statement that it is “closely monitoring the situation” and that “the United States values freedom of speech as a cornerstone of a healthy democracy.”

(Updates the fifth paragraph with top court judge maintaining the block)

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