The Supreme Court of Brazil has upheld an order to ban Elon Musk’s social media platform X in the country and impose fines on those who bypass the ban using a virtual private network (VPN).
All five judges on the Supreme Court panel voted in favor of the decision to shut down the platform during a virtual session on Monday. X still has the option to appeal the ruling following the conclusion of the hearing.
The platform has been suspended since a late Friday order issued by Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who is leading efforts to combat fake news and hate speech in Brazil. However, Moraes has faced criticism for allegedly undermining free speech in his attempts to regulate online content.
Moraes ordered the suspension after Musk ignored several previous rulings, including one that required him to appoint a legal representative for X in Brazil, Latin America’s largest economy.
BREAKING NEWS
Brazil is backing down – They will now not fine people for using a VPN to access X.
However, they will fine anyone using a VPN to spread “hate speech” and what they deem to be “fake news”.
While this is still tyrannical, this is