Elon Musk’s clash with Brazil deepens, threatening X and Starlink
The clash between Elon Musk and a Brazil’s top court justice spread across his companies as the judge vowed to shut down X and blocked Starlink bank accounts
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Aug 31, 2024
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The billionaire's businesses were negatively impacted by Elon Musk's legal dispute with a judge on Brazil's highest court, as the judge threatened to shut down X and prohibit Starlink bank accounts in the biggest economy in Latin America.
Judge Alexandre de Moraes of the Supreme Court is leading the charge against hate speech and fake news in Brazil. The judge, according to Musk and conservatives like former president Jair Bolsonaro, is going too far and restricting free speech.
According to local news website G1, Moraes filed an order on August 18 to restrict the bank accounts of Musk's satellite internet provider. The report portrayed the action as an attempt to force Musk's company to pay for fines imposed on social media platform X.
The report was verified by an individual with cognizance of the circumstances at the Supreme Court. According to SpaceX, Starlink, their internet service, has a quarter of a million users in Brazil.
Starlink Brazil Holding LTDA requested that the Supreme Court revoke the decision in an appeal filed on Friday, claiming that the internet company is not involved in the lawsuit against X. Subsequently, Judge Cristiano Zanin upheld the financial assets block and rejected the appeal.
In a post on X, Musk took aim at Moraes, labeling him a criminal "masquerading as a judge."
In a series of tweets on X, the social media site that was formerly known as Twitter, Starlink verified that an order from Moraes had frozen the company's funds and barred it from carrying out financial operations in Brazil.
The business stated that it plans to "address the matter legally" and that "this order is based on an unfounded determination that Starlink should be responsible for the fines levied — unconstitutionally — against X."
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