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The world’s most popular Social network X has been taken offline in Brazil, the country with the world’s fifth-largest digital population, after it was blocked by the country’s Supreme Court for refusing to comply with local laws.
Millions of X users in Brazil were unable to access the networks on Saturday morning as internet providers and mobile operators began implementing the ban.
When Guardians tried to access the network on their computers and mobile phones, they received the message: “It appears the connection has been lost. We will keep retrying.”
Many Brazilians have fled to rival network Blue Sky, which reported gaining 500,000 users in the past two days. “Welcome to Blue Sky!” the company posted in Portuguese to new users.
The ban of X, which has more than 22 million users in Brazil, is the climax of a politically tense battle that has been unfolding for months between Brazil’s Supreme Court and right-wing tech billionaires.
The influential Supreme Court judge responsible for the ban, Alexandre de Moraes, has been spearheading efforts to force X to purge anti-democratic far-right voices following riots in the capital, Brasilia, in January 2023 by supporters of far-right former president Jair Bolsonaro.
Musk, who has aligned himself with right-wing figures including President Bolsonaro and US ally Donald Trump, hit back, accusing Moraes of trying to stifle free speech and censor conservative voices. Musk’s public attacks against Moraes, many of which were childish and vulgar, were reminiscent of his multiple online criticisms of British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who X owners accused of inciting during the recent far-right riots in the UK.
The final blow to X being blocked in Brazil came on Thursday when Musk ignored a 24-hour deadline to appoint new legal representatives after the social media platform closed its local offices in mid-August. Friday’s ruling In issuing his ban, Moraes accused X of treating the social network “like a no man’s land – a land without law” by allowing the “massive spread” of misinformation, hate speech and anti-democratic attacks.
A few hours later, just after midnight local time, users in Brazil began noticing that their X had expired.
Musk stepped up his attacks on Moraes, calling the judge “Voldemort” and tweeting a meme of a dog dangling its scrotum from another animal’s face.
“He is a dictator and a crook and not a dictator,” Musk wrote on X, but Brazilian users can no longer read his words without using a Virtual Private Network (VPN).
Prominent right-wing voices have rallied to Musk’s side, highlighting the growing affinity between Brazil’s far-right and the world’s richest man.
“I’m going to radicalize myself, even if it’s just me,” Nicholas Ferreira, a prominent right-wing congressman, vowed hours before X was blocked. “You’re a freedom fighter,” Musk responded.
Progressive Brazilians have mocked Musk’s claims to defend free speech, with many praising the Supreme Court’s decision for showing that X owners are not above the law.
“If billionaires want to have multi-billion dollar businesses in this region, they need to learn to respect the law. Long live the rule of law and national sovereignty,” left-leaning Congresswoman Erica Hilton wrote on X late Friday night.
In a second farewell message, posted about 30 minutes before the ban took effect, Hilton announced that she was relocating to Blue Sky. “See you there soon,” she wrote.
Source: www.theguardian.com
