Elon Musk's Starlink Refuses to Block X in Brazil
It turns out that Starlink, which operates in Brazil, has refused to block access to X, contrary to the wishes of Brazilian Supreme Court Judge Alexandre de Moraes, who ordered Internet service providers to block access to X. The background to this uproar is a legal battle between X and the government in Brazil.
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Elon Musk's Starlink Defies Brazil Court Order to Block X - The New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/01/world/americas/elon-musk-brazil-starlink-x.html
On the first day without X, many Brazilians say they feel disconnected from the world | AP News
https://apnews.com/article/x-brazil-musk-1e896a1daedeaed6a09cf27205feb08a
In April 2024, X was ordered by the Brazilian Supreme Court to block certain accounts, but after protesting the order on the grounds that the basis was unclear, Musk became the subject of an investigation into obstruction of justice. In August, Musk ended X's operations in Brazil and closed its offices after Judge Moraes threatened to arrest legal representatives if the censorship order was not complied with. X itself remained available in the country, but Judge Moraes terminated the service on August 31 after X ignored the government's request to have legal representatives to continue the service.
Brazilian Supreme Court orders X to suspend service in the country - GIGAZINE
In addition to appointing legal representatives, Judge Moraes ordered the bank accounts of Musk's company, SpaceX, to be frozen in order to force X to pay more than $3 million in fines. In response to this order, SpaceX stated through its Starlink account that 'this order is based on an unfounded determination that Starlink should be liable for X's fines,' and made it clear that it would consider legal action.
This order is based on an unfounded determination that Starlink should be responsible for the fines levied—unconstitutionally—against X. It was issued in secret and without affording Starlink any of the due process of law guaranteed by the Constitution of Brazil. We intend to…
— Starlink (@Starlink) August 29, 2024
In addition to the above statement, Starlink also rejected the order to block access to X. According to local media Globo News, Starlink said it would not comply with the order until its assets were unfrozen.
At the time of writing, access to X is blocked throughout Brazil, but only Starlink is allowed access. Brazilians are reportedly accessing X using Starlink or a VPN, but Judge Moraes has warned that 'if you use a VPN to access X, you will be fined 50,000 reals (about 1.3 million yen) per day.' Opinions were divided among the judges on this warning, with one of them stating that 'fines should be imposed on those who post messages expressing Nazism or fascism, not on those who use VPNs.'
Brazil is one of X's key markets , with more than 20 million users . Meanwhile, Starlink is also popular, with the number of users reaching 250,000 since its launch in 2022.
With the use of X effectively banned, some local media outlets are now distributing news through their Portuguese branches.
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