Brazil bans X after social media platform misses key court deadline

Elon Musk's social media company X was banned in Brazil on Friday, after the company failed to name a new legal representative by the Brazilian court's deadline.

A Brazilian Supreme Court justice threatened to shut down the social media platform in the country on Wednesday, after months of the courts and X clashing over free speech and misinformation.

Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes said the platform has been blocked, and the block will remain in place until X complies and names a new representative, per the Associated Press.

X admitted that the block would likely take place, because it did not listen to the court's order to silence certain political accounts. 

“When we attempted to defend ourselves in court, Judge de Moraes threatened our Brazilian legal representative with imprisonment. Even after she resigned, he froze all of her bank accounts,” the company wrote in a statement. “Our challenges against his manifestly illegal actions were either dismissed or ignored. Judge de Moraes’ colleagues on the Supreme Court are either unwilling or unable to stand up to him.”

De Moraes said his actions to ban the platform were legal because of the country's requirement that foreign companies have representation in the country so they can be notified of any pending legal activities against them.

Misty Severi is an evening news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.