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Tuesday 05 Nov 2024
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LOCAL EDITION
Elon Musk. (Photo/Reuters)
The social media platform X, formerly called Twitter, has returned to Brazil, after remaining inaccessible for more than a month due to a clash between its owner, Elon Musk, and a justice on the country’s highest court.
Internet service providers began restoring access to the platform on Wednesday after Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes authorised lifting X’s suspension.
"TWITTER IS ALIVE," Lucas dos Santos Consoli, known as luscas on X, wrote on the platform to his more than 7 million followers.
"I'm happy that the platform decided to follow the laws of Brazil and finally adapted, after all I’ve been usin g the app for almost 15 years so I can’t deny that I was missing it,” the 31-year-old told Associated Press.
De Moraes ordered the shutdown of X on Aug. 30 after a monthslong dispute with Musk over free speech, far-right accounts, and misinformation.
Musk had disparaged de Moraes, calling him an authoritarian and a censor, although his rulings, including X’s nationwide suspension, were repeatedly upheld by his peers.
Musk’s company ultimately complied with all of de Moraes’ demands. They included blocking certain accounts from the platform, paying outstanding fines and naming a legal representative. Failure to do the latter had triggered the suspension.
"This sends a message to the world that the richest person on the planet is subject to local laws and constitutions,” said David Nemer, who specialises in the anthropology of technology at the University of Virginia.
It could set a precedent as to how other countries that are clashing with Musk — such as Australia — could move forward, as it shows Musk is not unbeatable, he added.
Complying with orders
Brazil — a highly online country of 213 million people — is one of X’s biggest markets, with estimates of its user base ranging from 20 million to 40 million.
"X is proud to return to Brazil," the company said in a statement posted on its Global Government Affairs account.
"Giving tens of millions of Brazilians access to our indispensable platform was paramount throughout this entire process. We will continue to defend freedom of speech, within the boundaries of the law , everywhere we operate."
The Aug. 30 ban came two days after the company said it was removing all its remaining staff in Brazil. X said de Moraes had threatened to arrest its legal representative in the country, Rachel de Oliveira Villa Nova Conceicao, if the company did not comply with orders to block accounts.
Brazilian law requires foreign companies to have a local legal representative to receive notifications of court decisions and swiftly take any requisite action — particularly, in X’s case, the takedown of accounts.
Some of Brazilian X’s users have migrated to other platforms, such as Meta’s Threads and, primarily, Bluesky. It’s unclear how many of them will return to X.
X is returning to Brazil weaker than it was before the ban, said Nemer, noting that X is now worth less than a fifth than when Musk bought Twitter. The platform has lost a lot of users, especially in Brazil, he said.
Brazil was not the first country to ban X. The platform and its former incarnation, Twitter, have been banned in several countries like Russia and China.
Musk’s decision to reverse course in Brazil after publicly criticising de Moraes isn’t surprising, said Matteo Ceurvels, research firm Emarketer’s analyst for Latin America and Spain.
"The move was pragmatic, likely driven by the economic consequences of losing access to millions of users in its third-largest market worldwide, along with the millions of dollars in associated advertising revenue," Ceurvels said.
"Although X may not be a top priority for most advertisers in Brazil, the platform needs them more than they need it," he said.
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Source: TRT
