On Tuesday, Starlink, the satellite broadband company founded by Elon Musk, confirmed its decision to adhere to an order from Brazil’s highest court to restrict access to the social media platform X within the country. This announcement followed a prior statement in which Starlink indicated it would not comply with the judicial directive.
The situation escalated when Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes mandated the freezing of Starlink’s accounts, potentially to cover fines related to X, which is also owned by Musk.
In a post on X, Starlink stated, “Despite the unlawful treatment involving the freezing of our assets, we are complying with the order to block access to X in Brazil.” The company has more than 200,000 subscribers in the Latin American nation.
Earlier on Monday, Brazil’s National Telecommunications Agency (Anatel) reported that Starlink had initially communicated its intention to disregard Moraes’ order, which required internet service providers to halt domestic access to X.
However, a representative from Anatel later confirmed to Reuters that shortly thereafter, Starlink changed its stance and informed the regulator of its plans to implement the blocking within hours.
According to Anatel, Starlink has already taken steps to restrict access to X for users in Brazil.
The social media platform had been obstructed in Brazil since last week following Moraes’ ruling, which mandated all telecom companies in the nation to shut down the service due to X’s lack of a legal representative in Brazil. This decision was reaffirmed by a panel of Supreme Court judges.
Starlink indicated that it is pursuing legal remedies in the Brazilian Supreme Court, highlighting what it termed the “gross illegality” of Moraes’ order, which not only froze its funds but also hindered its ability to engage in financial operations within Brazil.
The company noted that it will exhaust all legal options, joined by others who believe the judge’s recent directives are in violation of the Brazilian constitution.
A court document released on Tuesday showed that Starlink missed the deadline to file a new appeal regarding the asset freeze, leaving uncertainty around what legal measures the company intends to pursue for overturning the decision.
The controversy over X stems from a directive issued by Moraes earlier this year, which required the platform to suspend accounts linked to investigations concerning the dissemination of false news and hate speech.
Musk criticized the ruling as a form of censorship and subsequently closed Starlink’s offices in Brazil in mid-August; however, X remained accessible in the country until Moraes ordered its shutdown.
Despite the blockage, some Brazilian users are still able to access the platform via VPN and other methods.
© Thomson Reuters 2024
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