According to a judgement published late on Wednesday, Brazil’s Supreme Court ordered Elon Musk-owned X not to evade a prior rule suspending the country’s social networking site, or face a daily punishment of 5 million reais ($921,726.95).
On Wednesday, several Brazilian users gained access to X after an upgrade to its communications network circumvented the court-ordered restriction. The verdict states that a 5-million-real fine has already been issued as a result of that action.
In August, following a months-long disagreement between Musk and Brazilian Justice Alexandre de Moraes, the Supreme Court ordered Brazil’s mobile and internet service providers to ban the site, cutting customers off within hours.
“There is no doubt that X, under Elon Musk’s direct command, again intends to disrespect Brazil’s judiciary,” Moraes said in his most recent decision, adding that the platform has a “strategy” to avoid the ban.
X said on Wednesday that a change in network suppliers resulted in “an inadvertent and temporary service restoration” in Brazil and that it is continuing to work with the Brazilian authorities to reinstate service there “very soon.”
The Brazilian law firm Pinheiro Neto Advogados, which represents X before the Brazilian Supreme Court, declined to comment on Thursday.
Courts have already suspended accounts linked to investigations into allegedly disseminating disinformation and hatred, which Musk has condemned as censorship, and have forced X to appoint a local representative as required by Brazilian law.
Anatel, the national telecoms agency, said in a statement that it is seeking to ban X’s access in Brazil via Cloudflare, the content delivery network used by the platform to overcome the block. This is expected to happen before the end of Thursday, according to a source familiar with the matter.
Other platforms, such as Fastly and EdgeUno, may have been used by X to circumvent the legislation, according to officials.
According to a person familiar with the case, Anatel will contact San Francisco-based Fastly and Brazil’s EdgeUno on Thursday to clarify whether those platforms are allowing illicit access to X.
Anatel contacted Cloudflare on Wednesday, and the business agreed to engage with Brazilian authorities, according to the source, adding that the suspension of services would not affect access to other networks that may utilise the same cloud service.
