Supreme Court judge’s ruling to suspend Elon Musk’s social network X prompted a ban on the platform to go into force early on Saturday, as per AFP.
After months of disagreements with the tech mogul over misinformation in the biggest country in South America, Brazilian Supreme Court Judge Alexandre de Moraes ordered the platform’s suspension on Friday.
Following Musk’s noncompliance with court order to designate a new legal representative for the corporation, Moraes rendered the decision.
Some users in the South American nation lost access to X, formerly known as Twitter, early on Saturday. Instead of being able to log in successfully, they were sent a notice requesting them to restart the browser.
The judge’s ruling infuriated Musk, who also controls Tesla and SpaceX. He called Moraes a “evil dictator cosplaying as a judge” and said that he was “trying to destroy democracy in Brazil.”
The billionaire, whose political views have shifted more and more to the right, wrote on X that “free speech is the foundation of democracy and an unelected pseudo-judge in Brazil is undermining it for political purposes.”
As Moraes spearheads a campaign against misinformation in Brazil, the two have been embroiled in a protracted, highly publicized conflict for months.
Musk has previously described himself as a “free speech absolutist,” but after he assumed control of the once-named Twitter in 2022, he has been under fire for allegedly using the network as a platform for right-wing conspiracy theories.
