X ceases operations in Brazil after spat with judge

The move is in response to so-called ‘censorship orders’ by judge Alexandre Moraes, whose actions, X claims, are ‘incompatible with democratic government’.

X, formerly Twitter, is shutting down its operation in Brazil after a judge threatened one of its legal representatives with arrest.

Judge Alexandre Moraes, who sits on the country’s supreme court, allegedly “threatened” an X legal representative, named by Reuters as Rachel Nova Conceicao, with arrest in a “secret order” that was posted on X by the company’s global government affairs team and has since been removed.

“Despite our numerous appeals to the Supreme Court not being heard, the Brazilian public not being informed about these orders and our Brazilian staff having no responsibility or control over whether content is blocked on our platform, Moraes has chosen to threaten our staff in Brazil rather than respect the law or due process,” the post reads.

“As a result, to protect the safety of our staff, we have made the decision to close our operation in Brazil, effective immediately.”

The feud between Moraes and X owner Elon Musk goes back to earlier this year, when the judge ordered the platform to block certain accounts amid a crackdown on so-called “digital militias” that were accused of spreading fake news during former president Jair Bolsonaro’s reign.

Musk has called out the orders to block accounts “unconstitutional” in the past.

“We are deeply saddened that we have been forced to make this decision. The responsibility lies solely with Alexandre de Moraes,” X wrote on the platform. “His actions are incompatible with democratic government. The people of Brazil have a choice to make – democracy, or Alexandre de Moraes.”

Even though X has ceased operations in Brazil, it said the service remains available to the people of the country.

Just last week, Musk had an X Spaces conversation with former US president Donald Trump ahead of the presidential elections later this year. However, the event kicked off with technical difficulties that delayed the start by more than 40 minutes.

Musk blamed the glitch on a DDoS attack sources from within the company told The Verge he was likely lying about the reason.

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