X braced for Brazil ban as judge’s deadline passes

Justice Moraes gave X 24 hours to name a new legal representative or face suspension, with the deadline coming just after 20:00 local time (23:00 GMT) on Thursday.

A ban would be expected to take some 12 hours to come into force.

But in a post from one of its official accounts shortly after the deadline expired, external, X made clear that it had not complied with the order.

“Soon, we expect Judge Alexandre de Moraes will order X to be shut down in Brazil – simply because we would not comply with his illegal orders to censor his political opponents,” the post said.

“The fundamental issue at stake here is that Judge de Moraes demands we break Brazil’s own laws. We simply won’t do that.”

X said it would not comply “in secret with illegal orders”, adding that it would publish the judge’s demands in the coming days “in the interests of transparency”.

Justice Moraes had ordered that X accounts accused of spreading disinformation – many supporters of the former right-wing president Jair Bolsonaro – must be blocked while they are under investigation. He said the company’s legal representatives would be held liable if any accounts were reactivated.

Meanwhile, the bank accounts of Mr Musk’s satellite internet firm Starlink have been frozen in Brazil following an order by the country’s Supreme Court.

The order, signed by Justice Moraes, was in response to X no longer having a legal representative in the country.

Starlink responded with a post on X which said the “order is based on an unfounded determination that Starlink should be responsible for the fines levied – unconstitutionally – against X.”

Mr Musk also said on X that “SpaceX and X are two completely different companies with different shareholders.”

Justice Moraes gained prominence after his decisions to restrict social media platforms in the country.

He is also investigating Mr Bolsonaro and his supporters for their roles in an alleged attempted coup d’état on 8 January last year.