Brazil has suspended the popular social media platform X due to concerns over free speech, which has prompted strong reactions from users.
This controversial suspension allegedly comes in response to Brazil’s attempt to rid the site of “far-right” content following an uprising in the country’s capital city of Brasília in January 2023, according to The Guardian.
Millions of X users have now found themselves without access to the social media platform after Elon Musk, the site’s owner, did not comply with Brazilian regulations meant to censor certain types of speech on the platform.
Brazil Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes imposed a deadline for Musk and X to find a legal representative in Brazil; however, Musk missed this deadline, and Moraes quickly took action to suspend the platform in the country, per Time Magazine.
“Elon Musk showed his total disrespect for Brazilian sovereignty and, in particular, for the judiciary, setting himself up as a true supranational entity and immune to the laws of each country,” wrote the judge, as reported by Time.
Moraes then ordered an “immediate and complete suspension” of X in the country until the platform agreed to comply with court orders and pay any outstanding fines, according to BBC.
This suspension has prompted backlash from many who have concerns that the Brazilian government is attempting to limit the free speech of residents. X’s CEO Linda Yaccarino wrote that it was a “sad day for X users around the world, especially those in Brazil, who are being denied access to our platform.”
Musk also responded shortly before the suspension was enacted, writing in a post that the Brazilian government was “shutting down the #1 source of truth in Brazil.”
The tech entrepreneur’s claims did little to influence the eventual ban of the application, with many people in the country being unable to access the site since Saturday morning, when internet providers and phone companies began imposing restrictions, per The Guardian.
Fines totaling thousands of dollars were also established to prevent anyone from using a VPN to access X.
Maurício Santoro, a political science professor at the State University of Rio de Janeiro, said he has experience using VPNs in “authoritarian countries like China” to gain access to sites that promote free speech, but he has never had to use it in Brazil before now.
“It never occurred to me that this type of tool would be banned in Brazil. It’s dystopian,” Santoro wrote shortly before the site was banned, per the Associated Press.
Similar opinions were also issued from within the government, with Brazilian congressman Marcel van Hattem making a post shortly after the ban, writing that he was using a VPN to post despite the potential fines he may face.
“My dignity is worth much more than that. Actually, it is priceless. I will keep tweeting regardless of State persecution or threats because I believe in freedom of expression, democracy, and real Justice,” he wrote in the post.
Initial reports indicated that Moraes’ order also required VPNs to be removed from online app stores, however, it appears that that component was subsequently retracted. Some legal experts and observers suggested that any celebration over the retraction was unwarranted as the fine affixed to the act of using a VPN to access X has been upheld by the Brazilian Supreme Court, according to Cointelegraph.
While many were directing their attention to the Brazilian government, some claimed that the United States could do more to assist X in its fight to facilitate free speech.
Rep. Rich McCormick (R-GA) alleged that President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris were indifferent to the ban because they disliked Musk and “haven’t summoned the ambassador of Brazil.”
“Despots and enemies of freedom suspend free speech. Not allies. I’ll be getting to the bottom of this,” McCormick added.
The Dallas Express reached out to every Texas Republican member of the U.S. House and Senate and asked what, if anything, they were doing to assist Musk.
A spokesperson for Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX) said, “Congressman Session’s office has nothing to share on the matter at this time.”
No other Republican in the Texas congressional delegation responded by publication.