Brazil’s Supreme Court Warns Elon Musk: Appoint a Legal Representative for X or Face Nationwide Suspension

Justice Alexandre de Moraes of the Federal Supreme Court (Supremo Tribunal Federal or STF) of Brazil has asked Elon Musk to appoint a legal representative for his social media platform X in Brazil within 24 hours or face the consequences of a nationwide suspension.

Sharing a post on its official X handle, the Federal Supreme Court said, “STF summons Elon Musk and X to appoint a legal representative within 24 hours, under penalty of suspension of activities in Brazil.”

On its official site, the STF said, “Minister Alexandre de Moraes, of the Federal Supreme Court (STF), summoned on Wednesday night (28) businessman Elon Musk, owner of the social network X (formerly Twitter), to indicate, within 24 hours, the new legal representative of the company in Brazil.”

It further said, “The summons was made through a post on the Court’s official profile on the social network itself. The lawyer appointed in the proceedings was also summoned, on 08/18/2024, to present the information.”

The STF warned that the event of non-compliance would result in the suspension of the social network’s operations in Brazil. “In case of non-compliance with the determination, the decision provides for the suspension of the social network’s activities in Brazil,” the STF said.

Notably, Musk is being investigated in inquiry (INQ) 4957, which probes the alleged practice of the crimes of obstruction of justice, criminal organisation, and incitement to crime.

Earlier this year, Alexandre de Moraes had ordered X to block certain accounts accused of spreading false information and hate messages, including some accounts belonging to supporters of Brazil’s former President Jair Bolsonaro, Al Jazeera had reported.

Bolsonaro had repeatedly claimed that Brazil’s electronic voting system was vulnerable to fraud before a tightly contested election in 2022. Months after facing defeat by Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, a mob of Bolsonaro’s supporters stormed the top state institutions in Brazil to express anger over the results.

Moraes, who presides over Brazil’s Superior Electoral Tribunal, had said, “Freedom of expression doesn’t mean freedom of aggression.” He further said, “It doesn’t mean the freedom to defend tyranny.”

Earlier this year, Moraes also opened a probe into the billionaire after Musk said he would reactivate accounts on X that the judge had ordered to block.