Starlink, Elon Musk’s satellite broadband company, said Tuesday it was complying with an order from Brazil’s highest court to block access to social media platform X in the country, a day after it told the country’s regulator it would not comply with the order.
Starlink had become a new battleground between Musk and Brazil, after Judge Alexandre de Moraes ordered the freezing of the company’s accounts, which could potentially be used to pay fines owed to X, which is also owned by Musk.
“Regardless of Starlink’s illegal treatment by freezing our funds, we are complying with the order to block access to X in Brazil,” Starlink, which has more than 200,000 customers in the Latin American country, said in a message on X.
On Monday, Brazilian telecom regulator Anatel said it had been informed by Starlink that the Musk-backed company would not comply with Moraes’ order to have all internet providers block domestic access to X.
However, an Anatel representative told Reuters that Starlink had reversed its decision and informed the regulator on Tuesday that it would end the block within hours.
Anatel has verified that Starlink has already started blocking access to X in Brazil.
X has been blocked in Brazil since last week after Moraes ordered all telecom operators in the country to shut down the social media platform, citing a lack of legal representation in the country. The decision was later upheld by a panel of Supreme Court judges.
Starlink said in its statement that it had filed a lawsuit with Brazil’s Supreme Court, explaining the “gross illegality” of Moraes’ order, which froze Starlink’s finances and prevented the company from conducting any financial transactions in Brazil.
It added that it continues to pursue all legal avenues, as do others who agree that the judge’s “recent orders violate the Brazilian Constitution.”
Starlink has missed the deadline to file a new appeal against the decision to freeze the accounts, a court document showed on Tuesday. It was not yet clear what legal tool the company would use to unfreeze the account.
The dispute over X stems from an order issued by Moraes earlier this year, which required the platform to block accounts involved in investigations into the alleged spread of distorted news and hate speech.
Musk condemned the order as censorship. He responded by closing the company’s offices in Brazil in mid-August, but the platform remained available in the country until Moraes shut it down.
Some Brazilians can still use the service via VPN and other means.
© Thomson Reuters 2024
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