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(LifeSiteNews) — Elon Musk has pushed back on demands made in a Brazilian court order to censor certain accounts and called for the impeachment of a leading Supreme Court judge.
On Saturday, April 6, X (formerly known as Twitter) announced that it “has been forced by court decisions to block certain popular accounts in Brazil” under the threat of daily fines if the company fails to comply.
Shortly after the announcement, X owner Elon Musk said that the company would resist these demands, even if it had to shut down its operations in Brazil.
“We are lifting all restrictions,” the billionaire wrote. “This judge has applied massive fines, threatened to arrest our employees, and cut off access to 𝕏 in Brazil.”
“As a result, we will probably lose all revenue in Brazil and have to shut down our office there. But principles matter more than profit.”
In another post on X, Musk announced that his social media platform would publish the demands made by Supreme Court judge and head of Brazil’s Superior Electoral Court Alexandre de Moraes. Musk also called for de Moraes to be impeached and referred to him as “Brazil’s Darth Vader.”
“Coming shortly, 𝕏 will publish everything demanded by @Alexandre [de Moraes] and how those requests violate Brazilian law. This judge has brazenly and repeatedly betrayed the constitution and people of Brazil. He should resign or be impeached. Shame @Alexandre, shame.”
Brazil’s Darth Vader!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 7, 2024
A few days prior, journalist Michael Shellenberger published the “Twitter Files Brazil,” which showed how the Deep State, led by de Moraes, had interfered in the 2022 presidential election by pressuring social media platforms to ban accounts that supported sitting president Jair Bolsonaro or questioned the electoral systems.
READ: New ‘Twitter Files’ show how Brazil’s deep state interfered in the 2022 presidential election
Shellenberger wrote:
On March 30, 2022, the day after de Moraes took office as president of the TSE, the TSE mandated Twitter to, within a week and under the threat of a daily fine of 50,000 BRL (US$ 10,000), supply data on the monthly trend statistics for the hashtags #VotoImpressoNAO (“PrinteVoteNo”) and #VotoDemocraticoAuditavel (“DemocraticAuditableVote”).
In 2022, the court coerced Twitter into censoring several accounts, including two elected House members, for allegedly spreading “disinformation” under the threat of heavy fines. Twitter initially pushed back on these requests and appealed the orders but ended up complying with some of the requests due to the pressure of the heavy penalties.
Under Musk’s leadership, the social media platform appears to reject the censorship demands made by de Moraes and risk the shutdown of the company in Brazil.
“At any moment, Brazil’s Supreme Court could shut off all access to X/Twitter for the people of Brazil,” Shellenberger wrote on April 7 while reporting from Brazil. “It is not an exaggeration to say that Brazil is on the brink of dictatorship at the hands of a totalitarian Supreme Court Justice named Alexandre de Moraes.”
“President Lula da Silva is participating in the push toward totalitarianism,” he added. “Since taking office, Lula has massively increased government funding of the mainstream news media, most of which are encouraging increased censorship.”
In response to Musk’s announcement to disobey the court order, Brazil’s Attorney General Jorge Messias demanded “urgent regulations” of social media platforms. According to the Financial Times, Messias said, “It is urgent to regulate social networks.”
“We cannot live in a society in which billionaires domiciled abroad have control of social networks and put themselves in a position to violate the rule of law, failing to comply with court orders and threatening our authorities,” he added.
Musk called on users in Brazil to download and use a VPN (virtual private network) to be able to use the social media platform, should the government restrict access to X.
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