Cármen says that Musk disdains Brazil and that the country is “no one’s backyard”

Minister Cármen Lúcia, current president of the Superior Electoral Court (TSE), criticized businessman Elon Musk for failing to comply with court orders as a kind of disdain for the country. She referred to the decisions to block accounts on the social network X determined by Minister Alexandre de Moraes, of the Federal Supreme Court (STF), and which were contested by him.

According to the judge, Brazil has laws that must be complied with by any company that operates in the national territory, and that the country “is not anyone’s backyard” to decide whether or not to comply with the legislation.

“In a sovereign state, all of us citizens and all those who work here have to comply with the law of the country. It’s like that everywhere. Brazil is not smaller, Brazil is not anyone’s backyard, it is a sovereign state that needs to have its rights respected”, said Cármen Lúcia on the program Roda Vivafrom the TV Culturaon Monday night (30).

Cármen Lúcia amended the criticism of Musk and the company’s stance, questioning why a company considers itself above Brazilian laws. “Why does a company think it can treat Brazil as if it were something that can be absolutely disdained”, he asked.

The minister minimized the impacts of the platform’s suspension just over a month ago, highlighting that “life goes on” even without the we were going to live.”

She also commented on the allegations of Elon Musk, who classified the suspension of X as a violation of freedom of expression. Cármen Lúcia responded by saying that freedom of expression cannot be manipulated by individual interests.

“Freedom of expression cannot be captured by those who want expression to be what they think it is. The owner of the algorithm cannot think that he is the only one who has free expression”, he said, highlighting that expression can, in some cases, become a crime.

Last Friday (27), Moraes maintained the suspension of the social network in Brazil, pointing out that the company still needed to comply with court orders to resume operations. In recent days, platform X stated that it had met some of the demands, including paying a fine of R$18 million and appointing a legal representative in Brazil.

The company also claimed to have blocked accounts that disseminated content identified by Moraes as allegedly anti-democratic and disinformation. However, the magistrate denied the appeal and stated that X still needs to prove payment of the fine and also pay a new penalty of R$10 million for failing to comply with another court order of September 18.