X banned in Brazil, including access via VPN and mobile apps

A statement by the Brazilian Federal Supreme Court (translated by Google) late last Friday ordered “…the immediate and complete suspension of the operation of X, formerly Twitter, throughout the national territory until the Court's judicial decisions are complied with and the fines applied are paid. The order will also be valid until a representative of the company in the country is appointed.”

In anticipation of the move, X’s global government affairs account tweeted the following: “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. These enemies include a duly elected Senator and a 16-year-old girl, among others.

“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. 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.

“We are absolutely not insisting that other countries have the same free speech laws as the United States. The fundamental issue at stake here is that Judge de Moraes demands we break Brazil’s own laws. We simply won’t do that. In the days to come, we will publish all of Judge de Moraes’ illegal demands and all related court filings in the interest of transparency.”

That publication commenced the next day under the X handle @AlexandreFiles. ‘In a decision issued on August 18, Alexandre de Moraes elaborated on the reasons for some of his illegal orders.  In summary, he explains that anyone who seeks to expose him or his accomplices - in any way - must be silenced in the name of “democracy.”,’ it claims.

While he is a member of the supreme court, de Moraes seems to be acting unilaterally and has been widely accused of specifically seeking the censorship of his own political opponents and critics. The ruling compels the Brazilian telecoms regulator, Anatel, to ‘take all necessary measures to ensure the suspension’, which the regulator has indicated it will comply with. It also orders US companies Google and Apple to remove the X app from their stores and block the use of the app on devices running their operating systems.

Brendan Carr, a Commissioner for the US comms regulator, the FCC, tweeted that he thinks the Judge (whose name he misspells throughout) ‘...is attempting to strike a broader blow against free speech and in favor of authoritarian controls… But this type of censorship of a political and ideological nature is expressly prohibited by Brazil’s own Constitution… In other words, de Morea is arguing that free speech is a threat to democracy—a position that is as Orwellian as it is dangerous.’

And that’s not the end of it. The second part of de Moraes ruling states “A daily fine of R$50,000 [$8,900] was also set for individuals and companies that use “technological subterfuges” to maintain the use of X, without prejudice to other sanctions in the civil and criminal spheres.” This is widely interpreted as referring to VPNs, which are commonly used to mask the user’s online identity and location, thus circumventing regional restrictions.

The Brazilian Federal Supreme Court used the above image, which seems to be of a blindfolded Lady Justice, signifying the impartiality of the law. Critics of de Moraes however, of which there are many, insist that he is appropriating the Brazilian judicial system to prosecute a personal agenda. He has even reportedly blocked the Brazilian finances of other companies associated with X owner Elon Musk.

His move came at the end of a week in which social media platforms Telegram and TikTok came under heavy legal pressure and Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg revealed his company has been the recipient of extensive state censorship demands. It’s clear that attempts at political censorship of the internet, especially social media, are increasing by the day. The outcome of de Moraes vs X could set a digital civil liberties precedent for much of the rest of the world.