(LifeSiteNews) — Notorious left-wing Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes is continuing his autocratic ways.
In a 51-page decision handed down late Friday evening, de Moraes instructed the country’s National Telecommunications Agency to block access to social media website X within 24 hours.
https://twitter.com/BrendanCarrFCC/status/1829712717328105788
X had already announced on August 17 that it was shutting down its offices in the country to protect staffers from de Moraes’s wrath. At the same time, the company said that Brazilians could still download the app.
In his ruling, de Moraes demanded that Apple and Google remove X from their app stores within five days. He also imposed a daily fine of up to approximately $8,800 on persons and companies that attempt to use it via a VPN address.
https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1829778143449698764
The dictatorial decision comes amid a months-long legal dispute between de Moraes and X, which has refused to comply with what the company has deemed “illegal orders to censor his political opponents.”
https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1829625536777277754
Socialist Brazilian president Lula da Silva said in a radio interview Friday, “Just because the guy [Musk] has a lot of money, doesn’t mean they can disrespect you. … Who does he think he is?”
Musk has taken a no holds barred approach to the lawsuit. At various times over the past six months, he has called de Moraes a “tyrant,” “dictator,” and worse.
https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1829772614614536537
De Moraes took office as president of Brazil’s Superior Electoral Court (TSE) in March 2022 when he began to exert pressure on social media accounts supportive of conservative incumbent President Jair Bolsonaro in the lead-up to the presidential election.
Investigative journalist and author Michael Shellenberger, who broke the story about de Moraes’s apparent election interference, said his censorship efforts are “an attack on the democratic process” and “if there ever is electoral fraud in Brazil, nobody will be allowed to talk about it, if de Moraes gets his way.”
Shellenberger commented on the ban on X Saturday morning.
https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1829777370934284656
The spat between Musk and de Moraes began in April, when Musk announced that he tried to force the platform to censor accounts via a court order. Musk defiantly said that he would not give in to the demands and called for the impeachment of the high-ranking judge, referring to him as “Brazil’s Darth Vader.” The feud has also resulted in the freezing of financial accounts of Musk’s internet provider Starlink in Brazil.
https://twitter.com/GlobalAffairs/status/1829296715989414281
During a U.S. congressional hearing held in May, Shellenberger and Rumble CEO Chris Pavlovski testified about the numerous anti-free speech policies that have been enacted in Brazil under Lula and de Moraes, whom one witness described as the “de facto dictator” of the country.
De Moraes’s disturbing decision comes as Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov was indicted in France on seemingly questionable charges that many have argued are entirely politically driven. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has remained largely undisturbed by lawsuits from Western governments.