Short message service X: Brazil's judiciary launches investigation against Elon Musk

In Brazil, the highest court has opened an investigation against tech billionaire Elon Musk for obstruction of justice by company X. Judge Alexandre de Moraes accused Musk of “criminal instrumentalization” of the short message service X. “The social network X must refrain from disregarding court orders, including reactivating an account that the Supreme Court has ordered to be blocked,” the judge said.

Moraes threatened Musk with a fine of about $20,000 for each account that is reactivated in violation of the court’s decision. “Social networks are not a lawless space,” the judge wrote in capital letters in his order.

Moraes is one of eleven judges of the Supreme Court. He also heads the country’s Supreme Electoral Court (TSE). In the fight against disinformation, he has ordered the blocking of accounts of influential personalities on online networks in recent years. Most of them were supporters of the far-right former president Jair Bolsonaro, who was banned from all political office for eight years by the TSE in June.

Attorney General calls for regulation of social networks

Musk recently launched a series of attacks against Moraes on X. “This judge has shamelessly and repeatedly betrayed the Constitution and the Brazilian people,” Musk wrote. He called for his removal or resignation. Musk also threatened to publish details of the order blocking the X accounts, something the Supreme Court had previously prohibited.

Shortly after the first attacks against Moraes, Brazilian Attorney General Jorge Messias called for “regulation of social networks”. “We cannot live in a society where billionaires living abroad control social networks and are willing to violate the rule of law by disregarding court orders and threatening our authorities,” he wrote on X.

In Brazil, the highest court has opened an investigation against tech billionaire Elon Musk for obstruction of justice by company X. Judge Alexandre de Moraes accused Musk of “criminal instrumentalization” of the short message service X. “The social network X must refrain from disregarding court orders, including reactivating an account that the Supreme Court has ordered to be blocked,” the judge said.

Moraes threatened Musk with a fine of about $20,000 for each account that is reactivated in violation of the court’s decision. “Social networks are not a lawless space,” the judge wrote in capital letters in his order.

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