The social network X, formerly Twitter, announced the closure of the company’s office in Brazil after failing to comply with an alleged decision by the Minister of the Supreme Federal Court (STF), Alexandre de Moraes. The announcement was made this Saturday (17) in a publication where the technology giant disclosed the confidential decision of the minister. 
Despite the closure, the social network service remains available to the Brazilian population.
The veracity of the ruling was not confirmed by the Supreme Court. When contacted, the Supreme Court’s press office reported that the Court will not comment on the matter.
According to the document published by the social network, X refused to block profiles and accounts in the context of a Federal Police (PF) investigation into obstruction of investigations into criminal organizations and incitement to crime. The alleged order shows that, by not complying with the decision, Moraes ordered the personal subpoena of X’s representative in Brazil. However, the court officer was unable to locate those responsible for the social network.
In the alleged ruling released, Moraes allegedly stated that the representative of the company X Brasil acted in bad faith, trying to avoid notification of the decision handed down in the proceedings. As the company’s representatives were not located, Moraes allegedly ordered the arrest of the legal representative of X for disobeying the court order and imposed a daily fine of R$20,000 on the employee, according to the document released by X.
The company’s global affairs department said that “to protect the safety of our team, we have made the decision to close our operations in Brazil, effective immediately. The X service remains available to the people of Brazil.” The social network added that its appeals were unsuccessful in the Supreme Court and that Moraes “threatens our team.”
The owner of the social network, Elon Musk, commented on the decision. “The decision to close office X in Brazil was difficult, but if we had agreed to the demands for secret (illegal) censorship and delivery of private information from Alexandre de Moraes, there would be no way to explain our actions without being embarrassed,” said the mega businessman.
Global activist
This is not the first time that multi-billionaire Elon Musk has challenged the Brazilian judiciary. In April of this year, Musk accused Moras of “censoring” content on the platform. Analysts believe that this could be a strategy of the global far right to hinder investigations into the alleged coup attempt of January 8, 2023 in Brazil.
The owner of the X platform and several other companies, from satellites to electric cars, has become known for his political activism in different countries around the world, from Bolivia, Venezuela, Brazil and the United States itself, where he openly campaigns for Donald Trump.
Musk has also been involved in the violence crisis in the UK, where extremist groups have attacked immigrants on the streets. On the subject, Musk commented that a “civil war is inevitable” in the European country. The X network has also been accused of promoting anti-immigrant content on the social network.
