Elon Musk refused to delete tweets posted by Brazilian Nazis, even though he has performed similar acts of censorship for right-wing governments. He refused to pay fines there, refused to appoint a local legal representative, and made a big fuss over free speech. He promised to abandon the country and let it block the site rather than abandon his principles. Like clockwork, he finally caved over the weekend after it was made clear they would not back down. The tweets are deleted, the act of censorship agreed to, the fines paid, the local lawyer hired, and the "principles" dismissed—all to regain the company's access to users and advertisers in the fast-growing, rapidly-developing nation of 220m.
Elon Musk fought the law. The law appears to have won.
X, Musk's social media platform, has backed down in its fight with the Brazilian judiciary, after complying with court orders that had blocked users in the country from accessing X.
The platform bowed to one of the key demands made by Brazil's supreme court by appointing a legal representative in the country. It also paid outstanding fines and took down user accounts that the court had ordered to be removed on the basis that they threatened the country's democracy, the New York Times reported.
How would that be in Portuguese. O vibrador das consequências?
Previously:
• X mistakenly finds itself temporarily online in Brazil
• A trove of leaks show that Brazil's 'anti-corruption' task force was secretly trying to oust Lula and install a far-right strongman
• Brazilian court orders block on Twitter after it refuses to appoint a legal agent there
