OAN’s Elizabeth Volberding
3:20 PM – Monday, April 8, 2024
Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes launched an investigation into Elon Musk, the billionaire owner and chief technology officer of social media platform X, formerly Twitter.
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On Sunday, the Brazilian Supreme Court opened an investigation into tech mogul Elon Musk after he said that he would reactivate specific X accounts that a judge had previously ordered to be blocked.
After Musk said that he would reactivate specific accounts on X, the judge launched an investigation into the billionaire on Sunday, intensifying a shakedown between Musk and the Brazilian justice.
A court judgment forcing the social networking platform to block a number of users was issued by Justice Alexandre de Moraes. The probe concerned former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro’s attempts to maintain power following his electoral setback in 2022.
Along with restricting the social media platform from disclosing which accounts were disabled, the order also carried a penalty of almost £16,000 ($20,246.40) per day for noncompliance.
According to Musk, the company will now reverse such blocks. In addition, Musk demanded that Moraes step down or face impeachment. In response, the judge declared late on Sunday that he had begun an investigation into what he considered to be Musk’s “obstruction of justice.”
As part of Musk’s “Twitter Files,” a collaboration with several journalists that has granted them access to the social network’s internal records, news of the court order surfaced in an apparent coordinated disclosure. Over two years worth of correspondence between X’s legal team and Brazilian judges were made public by American journalist Michael Shellenberger on Wednesday, who claimed that the documents showed “a sweeping crackdown on free speech.”
Musk responded to the situation on Saturday, referring to the move as “aggressive censorship” while promising to remove any restrictions.
He continued, saying: “this judge has applied massive fines, threatened to arrest our employees and cut off access to X in Brazil.”
When Musk refused to comply, he predicted that the social media platform “will probably lose all revenue in Brazil and have to shut down our office there. But principles matter more than profit.”
“We are lifting all restrictions. This judge has applied massive fines, threatened to arrest our employees and cut off access to in Brazil. As a result, we will probably lose all revenue in Brazil and have to shut down our office there. But principles matter more than profit,” Musk declared.
In a matter of hours, Musk continued his dispute with Moraes, vowing to make public “everything” that the justice of the Supreme Court had requested on X.
“Coming shortly, I will publish everything demanded by [Alexandre de Moraes] and how those requests violate Brazilian law. This judge has brazenly and repeatedly betrayed the constitution and people of Brazil. He should resign or be impeached. Shame [Alexandre de Moraes], shame,” Musk wrote on X.
Moraes is overseeing an inquiry into an alleged coup attempt by former President Jair Bolsonaro and is looking into “digital militias” that have been accused of disseminating hate speech and “fake news” during his administration.
In his judgment, Moraes said, “X shall refrain from disobeying any court order already issued, including performing any profile reactivation that has been blocked by this Supreme Court.”
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