Brazil unfreezes Elon Musk's X and Starlink assets after receiving $3.3 million payment

Brazil's Supreme Court on Friday restored access to the bank accounts and assets of Elon Musk's X and satellite company Starlink after the country's government received a $3.3 million payment.

Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes blocked the social media platform X last month after the company failed to name a new legal representative or remove certain content by the Brazilian court's deadline. 

De Moraes has claimed 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.

The justice unfroze the X and Starlink accounts after receiving approximately 7.2 million reais, which equals $1.3 million, from X, and roughly 11 million reais, or about $2 million, from Starlink, according to the Associated Press.

“After the payment of the full amount that was owed, justice (de Moraes) considered there was no need to keep the bank accounts frozen and ordered the immediate unfreezing of bank accounts/financial assets,” the Brazilian Supreme Court said.

The judge decided to collect the funds on Wednesday, and the companies were notified on Thursday, the outlet reported.

Musk has not commented on the reinstatement of the assets in the South America country, but previously framed X's suspension as a conflict over free speech and censorship.

“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,” X wrote in a statement in August. “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.”

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