Brazilian telecom regulator threatens sanctions against Elon Musk’s Starlink

Tensions between Brazil and Elon Musk’s business empire escalated after Brazil’s telecom regulator threatened to punish his satellite broadband company Starlink, hours after the country’s Supreme Court approved a controversial decision to ban social network X in the country.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva also supported Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes’ decision to suspend X. The judge ruled that X allowed hate speech and lies about the country’s electronic voting system to be posted, which undermined Brazilian democracy.

“The Brazilian judiciary may have sent an important signal that the world does not have to tolerate Musk’s far-right ideology just because he is rich,” Lula said in an interview with CNN Brasil published Monday.

Responding to the judge’s earlier decision to freeze Starlink’s accounts so they could potentially be used to pay X’s fines, Musk said in a message from X that he would pursue a mutual seizure of Brazilian assets, but did not say how.

Starlink came under renewed scrutiny from Brazilian authorities on Monday after it refused to comply with Moraes’ order to block all internet providers from domestic access to X.

A senior official at telecommunications regulator Anatel said sanctions against Starlink for non-compliance could include revoking its license to operate in Brazil.

Anatel Commissioner Artur Coimbra told Reuters the regulator is inspecting all Brazilian telecom companies to make sure they have shut down Musk’s messaging platform.

Starlink is the only company that has informed Anatel that it will not abide by the judge’s ruling, Coimbra said.

Starlink did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday.

The company had previously told Anatel it refused to remove X from its service until the freeze on his Brazilian bank accounts was lifted, the telecoms regulator confirmed to Reuters earlier on Monday.

Moraes blocked Starlink’s accounts last week after X failed to pay fines imposed on him for failing to comply with court orders.

Sixth largest market

Earlier on Monday, a Supreme Court panel voted unanimously to uphold X’s suspension from the country, saying he defied a court order.

Moraes ruled last week that X should be suspended in Brazil because the company had failed to appoint a local legal representative, as required by law, and had ignored a compliance deadline.

Judges Flavio Dino, Cristiano Zanin, Carmen Lucia and Luiz Fux sided with Judge Alexandre de Moraes. Three of the judges on the panel said the suspension could be overturned if the platform complied with previous rulings.

X did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the panel’s decision.

X was removed for most Brazilians in the early hours of Saturday following Moraes’ decision, though some people were still able to access it via VPNs and other means. Moraes has also threatened to fine those using VPNs to access the social network 50,000 reais ($8,902.66) per day, though it remains unclear how enforceable that threat is.

According to Statista, Brazil is the sixth largest market in the world for X, with approximately 21.5 million users in April.

Moraes and Musk, who owns a majority stake in Starlink, have been locked in a dispute for months after the social media platform objected to orders to block accounts accused by researchers of spreading misinformation and hate.

While Moraes’ defenders see him as a crusader in defense of democracy, critics accuse him of cracking down on politicians and businessmen.

Musk alleges that Moraes attempted to censor users and closed the X office in Brazil in August without appointing a new representative, leading to the suspension.

On Monday, Musk responded, “Exactly,” to a message that described the suspension as an attack on freedom of expression and the rights of Brazilians.

Chief Justice Luis Roberto Barroso, who was not part of the review committee, said dismissing legal representatives to avoid complying with court orders “is a behavior that would not be acceptable anywhere in the world.”

For most users in Brazil, X was still inaccessible.

© Thomson Reuters 2024

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