You may soon need a VPN to use X in Brazil
If you’re living in Brazil or traveling there soon, you may need one of the best VPN apps to maintain access to a popular social media service.
According to various media reportsBrazil’s Supreme Court threatened to ban the platform on Wednesday, August 28, if the social media giant fails to appoint a legal representative in the country within 24 hours.
X (formerly known as Twitter) announced the potential block directly from its platform, confirming that it does not plan to comply with the court’s request. “We expect Judge Alexandre de Moraes to order X to be shut down in Brazil – simply because we would not comply with his illegal orders to censor his political opponents,” the Global Government Affairs team wrote in a tweet (see below).
Alexandre de Moraes is an evil dictator posing as a judge. https://t.co/ZIV8KbDCmkAugust 30, 2024
Earlier this month, X decided to close its offices in Brazil after a months-long censorship dispute. The company did so after local representatives were reportedly threatened with arrest for failing to comply with content removal orders.
Under Brazilian law, foreign companies must have a legal representative in the country in order to continue operating in Brazil.
X owner Elon Musk has been particularly critical of Supreme Court Minister Alexandre de Moraes, calling him a “tyrant” and a “dictator” on his social media account.
The feud has now spread to other Musk assets, such as the judge reportedly
the finances are frozen from SpaceX’s Starlink on Thursday.
How a VPN Can Help
While the Brazilian X ban has not yet been confirmed, chances are you will soon need to find an alternative way to access the platform.
Simply put, if De Moraes eventually lifts the block, you’ll need to fool Brazil’s Internet Service Providers (ISPs) into thinking you’re surfing from a completely different country so you can continue using X while in Brazil.
A VPN, short for virtual private network, is security software that encrypts internet connections and spoofs a user’s real IP address. The latter feature is exactly what you need to bypass government-imposed geo-restrictions.
Did you know?
Brazilian VPN usage skyrocketed in April when Elon Musk advised people in Brazil to download VPNs after Brazil launched an investigation into his behavior. At that time, Proton VPN registered a spike in registrations of 600% above normal levels.
It all sounds very technical, but don’t worry, it’s very simple to use a VPN app.
All you need to do is connect to a VPN server in a country without restrictions. X will see your spoofed IP address and assume that you are physically located in the same place as the server you choose.
It’s worth noting that there have been reports of VPN providers reportedly disappearing from the Brazilian Apple App Store. This includes TechRadar favorites such as NordVPN, ExpressVPN, Proton VPN, and Surfshark.
I then contacted several of the affected providers. Most, including NordVPN, ExpressVPN, and Surfshark, said they had seen no indication that their services were unavailable to Apple users in Brazil. Proton VPN was the only provider that confirm a problem at the app store level.
Either way, I recommend downloading the VPN app before you enter the country. I also recommend checking out our best free VPN page so you can download a few safe freebies and hop from one to another if one provider goes down.
We test and review VPN services in the context of legal recreational use. For example:
1. Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service).
2. Protect your online security and strengthen your online privacy abroad.
We do not support or tolerate the illegal or malicious use of VPN services. The consumption of paid pirate content is not endorsed or approved by Future Publishing.
