Musk says he will ‘lift legal restrictions’ on X – 04/06/2024 – Power

Less than an hour after an institutional profile of says that “we are lifting all restrictions” and that “principles matter more than profit”.

Although the company’s post did not mention where the decisions would be from, Musk reposted the publication, along with the message: “Why are you doing this @alexandre”, tagging the minister of the STF (Supreme Federal Court), Alexandre de Moraes.

“AX Corp. was forced by court decisions to block certain popular accounts in Brazil. We inform these accounts that we have taken such measures”, says the publication made by X.

“We do not know the reasons why these blocking orders were issued. We do not know which posts allegedly violated the law. We are prohibited from reporting which court or judge issued the order, or in what context. We are prohibited from reporting which accounts were affected. We are threatened with daily fines if we don’t comply with the order”, the message continues.

Half an hour after making the post mentioning Moraes, the businessman responded to another publication from his own profile in which he made reference to a post by writer and journalist Michael Shellenberger and said he was lifting “all restrictions”, without specifying exactly which restrictions he was complying with. referring.

“We are lifting all restrictions. This judge imposed high fines, threatened to arrest our employees and block access to X in Brazil,” Musk wrote.

“As a result, we will probably lose all revenue in Brazil and have to close our office there. But principles are more important than profit,” he continued.

Earlier, the businessman had responded in a critical tone to an old post made by Minister Moraes.

In a publication in which the minister congratulated the Minister of Justice, Ricardo Lewandowski, for his position, on January 11, the businessman questioned why there is “so much censorship in Brazil”.

In the early afternoon of this Saturday, federal deputy Eduardo Bolsonaro (PL-SP) also he responded to Musk, in the same post, saying he was making a request for a Chamber hearing, including a company representative.

Over the past few years, Moraes has taken several measures against social media profiles and, both via the STF and via the TSE (Superior Electoral Court), ordered the suspension of a series of accounts targeted by investigations, including those of parliamentarians and the PCO.

This action intensified amid the 2022 elections and the coup-like acts that spread across the country, calling for military intervention.

The topic raises a complex debate about the proportionality of the measure in relation to freedom of expression. In the case of criminal investigations, for example, there is currently no specific provision in the law authorizing this type of precautionary measure.

Last Wednesday (3), Michael Shellenberger made a post on the social network with a series of criticisms of Moraes and the actions of the Brazilian Judiciary, under the title “Twitter Files – Brazil” (Twitter Files, in Portuguese).

The name “Twitter Files” began to be used at the end of 2022 to refer to moderation measures, revealed from a set of internal documents from the network and which dealt with years prior to the Musk administration.

In the same post as Moraes, Eduardo Bolsonaro he responded to Musk saying that the Daniel Silveira case would be one of the examples. And he said that he is preparing a request to promote a hearing in the Foreign Relations Committee of the Chamber of Deputies on “Twitter Files Brazil and censorship”, with the participation of a representative of X.

Musk describes himself as a “freedom of expression absolutist” and since acquiring the social network in 2022, he has faced controversy. One of the businessman’s main focuses was the network’s moderation policies, under criticism that they had a political bias.

The platform has reduced content moderation teams, and users and experts point to the growth of hate speech and misinformation.