Caixa transfers fines paid by Twitter/X to the correct account; Moraes now waits for PGR
Another step was taken so that X (formerly Twitter), a company owned by billionaire Elon Musk, has its services released again in Brazil. This Monday (7), Caixa Econômica Federal transferred, to an account at Banco do Brasil, the amount of R$28.6 million in fines paid by the platform.
This was the last demand imposed by Minister Alexandre de Moraes, of the Federal Supreme Court (STF), to end the suspension of X’s operation in the country. The social network has been blocked since August 30th.
The transfer from Caixa to BB had to be made following a determination by Moraes, who claimed that X had paid the fines into the wrong account, not the one indicated by the STF in the process.
Having made the correction, the judge now awaits the opinion of the Attorney General’s Office (PGR) on X’s request to resume operating in the country. The document has not yet been sent to the Supreme Court, and Moraes does not have a set deadline to make a final decision on the case.
There was an expectation that the minister could make a decision even before the first round of municipal elections, last Sunday (6), which did not happen. It is likely, however, that the social network will be released before the second round, scheduled for the 27th. Lawyers for the platform believe this will happen this week.
Endless novel
At the end of September, the company delivered to the Supreme Court the last documents requested by Moraes so that the X service could be reestablished in Brazil.
According to X’s lawyers, all documents required by the STF had already been delivered. The defenders’ expectation is that the release will take place next week.
The company stated that it had already appointed a legal representative in Brazil, as determined by Moraes, and had also blocked the profiles of nine people being investigated by the Supreme Court and paid the fines imposed for non-compliance with court decisions.
“In view of full compliance with the determinations established by Your Excellency. in the decisions handed down on 8/30/2024, 9/19/2024 and 9/21/2024, X Brasil requests that the reestablishment of the previously adopted blocking measures,” said representatives of the former Twitter.
X’s defenders also presented the original corporate powers of attorney granted by the partners of the platform’s controllers, “duly notarized and consularized”.
Remember what it was like when Twitter/X was suspended
OX has been blocked in Brazil since the end of August, when Moraes ordered the suspension of the platform in the country due to the lack of a legal representative in Brazilian territory, in addition to non-payment of fines.
The decision was unanimously confirmed by the First Panel of the Supreme Court, in a trial held at the beginning of September.
In mid-September, several X users reported that they were able to access the social network, despite the block imposed by the highest instance of the Brazilian Judiciary.
According to reports, the accesses would have occurred from Android or iOS cell phones. It was also possible to access the social network through the Google Chrome browser. Even former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL) managed to publish it on his account.
Despite what appears to be a failure, Anatel had already informed that there is no new decision by the STF or Minister Alexandre de Moraes, and access to X remains prohibited in Brazil. The case is being investigated.
Elon Musk’s company would have made changes to its servers, so that the block imposed by internet operators was hampered, which allowed some users to access the network.
According to X, the change would have caused an “involuntary and temporary restoration of the service for Brazilian users”.
Understand the Moraes x Musk confrontation
At the end of August, Moraes was called a “tyrant” and “dictator” by Musk, in a series of publications made by the businessman on his official X account.
Musk criticized Moraes’ decision to block all financial resources from Starlink Holding – a group belonging to the billionaire – in Brazil. The magistrate’s decision was made on August 18th.
Moraes decided to block the company’s financial values to guarantee payment of the fines imposed by the Brazilian courts on X.
On the same day 18, Musk informed that X would close its operations in Brazil because of a series of decisions by Moraes that, according to the billionaire, would be censoring the platform.
The STF’s siege on Musk and X increased when Moraes set a 24-hour deadline for the company to appoint a legal representative in Brazil.
The summons to the Supreme Court, interestingly, had to be made precisely through the social network. OX closed its office in the country and, according to the STF, it does not have any legal representative in Brazilian territory.
In a post on his official account on the platform, Elon Musk mocked Alexandre de Moraes and displayed an image, produced by artificial intelligence, that compares the STF minister to villains from the films “Harry Potter” and “Star Wars”.
OX then published a note in which it stated that it would not comply with Moraes’ determinations and was awaiting a decision from the Brazilian Judiciary blocking the platform.
On September 2, in a unanimous decision, the First Panel of the STF endorsed Moraes’ position and maintained the blocking of the platform, in a clear sign from the Court of support for the judge on a controversial topic.
In addition to Moraes himself, ministers Flávio Dino, Cristiano Zanin, Cármen Lúcia and Luiz Fux voted to maintain the suspension of billionaire Elon Musk’s network.
Controversy began in April
The controversy involving Elon Musk and Alexandre de Moraes began months ago, on April 6, when Musk published messages on the platform with a series of criticisms of the magistrate.
“Soon, X will publish everything demanded by Alexandre de Moraes and how these requests violate Brazilian legislation. This judge blatantly and repeatedly betrayed the Constitution and the people of Brazil. He should resign or be impeached. Shame, Alexandre, shame,” wrote Musk on his official account.
Before this attack, the billionaire had already written that he would suspend the restrictions imposed by the Brazilian courts on several profiles on the network. He also accused Moraes of censoring the platform and stated that the STF practiced “aggressive censorship” in the country, which seemed to “violate the law and the will of the people of Brazil”.
Furthermore, in an institutional message, X stated that “it was forced by court decisions to block certain popular accounts in Brazil”. “We have informed these accounts that we have taken such measures,” the company said.
“We do not know the reasons why these lockdown orders were issued. We don’t know which posts allegedly violated the law. We are prohibited from reporting which court or judge issued the order, or in what context. We are prohibited from reporting which accounts were affected. We are threatened with daily fines if we do not comply with the order”, he continued.
Although he did not explicitly mention what these restrictions would be, Musk himself reposted the X publication and provoked Moraes: “Why are you doing this, Alexandre?”, asked the businessman, tagging the official account of the STF minister.
About 30 minutes after mentioning Moraes, Musk responded to an interaction on his own X profile and wrote that “this judge (Moraes) imposed high fines, threatened to arrest our employees and block access to X in Brazil.”
“As a result, we will likely lose all revenue in Brazil and will have to close our office there. But principles are more important than profit,” he said.
How Moraes reacted
Hours after Musk’s messages, Moraes included the owner of
In his decision, Moraes states that it is “unacceptable that any of the representatives of social networks, especially the former Twitter, current ‘X’, are unaware of the criminal instrumentalization that has been carried out by the so-called digital militias, in the dissemination, propagation and expansion of practices illicit activities on social media”.
“X’s conduct constitutes, in theory, not only an abuse of economic power, by attempting to illegally impact public opinion, but also flagrant induction and instigation to maintain various criminal conducts carried out by the digital militias under investigation”, noted the minister.
In a session of the STF, on April 10, Moraes commented on the episode and differentiated between “freedom of expression” and “freedom of aggression”. “I am absolutely convinced that the Federal Supreme Court, the Brazilian population and good people know that freedom of expression is not freedom of aggression,” he stated. “They know that freedom of expression is not freedom for the proliferation of hatred, racism, misogyny, homophobia. They know that freedom of expression is not freedom to defend tyranny. Maybe some aliens don’t know, but they started to learn and became aware of the courage and seriousness of the Brazilian Judiciary.”
