The sound of a screeching rubber on road was heard in South America last night as Elon Musk’s satellite broadband operation, Starlink, agreed to comply with an order in Brazil to block the billionaire’s social media mouthpiece, X.
Starlink had previously informed Brazil’s regulator that it would not obey the order, according to local media. However, the resistance was short lived, and Starlink has now confirmed posted that it is getting into line.
For those unable or unwilling to access Musk’s social media platform, X (formerly Twitter), Starlink posted, “Following last week’s order from @alexandre that froze Starlink’s finances and prevents Starlink from conducting financial transactions in Brazil, we immediately initiated legal proceedings in the Brazilian Supreme Court explaining the gross illegality of this order and asking the Court to unfreeze our assets.
“Regardless of the illegal treatment of Starlink in freezing of our assets, we are complying with the order to block access to X in Brazil. We continue to pursue all legal avenues, as are others who agree that @alexandre’s recent orders violate the Brazilian constitution.”
The @alexandre in question is Judge Alexandre de Moraes, who threatened to block X in Brazil if the company failed to answer to local authorities. A deadline for appointing a compliance officer came and went, and X was blocked in Brazil over the weekend.
Financial penalties have also been imposed on Starlink in an effort to get X to pay some of the fines it owes.
Unsurprisingly, Musk is not impressed with Moraes and has used his social media platform to express his displeasure with Brazil’s judicial system over recent months.
However, for now, the billionaire’s outbursts have come to naught. Doubtless mindful of the reported 200,000 Starlink users in Brazil, the company has bowed to the Judge’s decision, which five Supreme Court judges upheld on Monday, and blocked X.
Musk has continued his tirades against Moraes by amplifying accounts calling for the Judge to be removed and writing, “No judge on Earth in the 21st century has broken his own country’s laws so often and so egregiously.” ®