After a 39-day period of restrictions in Brazil, the X is released again for s across the country. After much repulsion and even accusations that the STF minister would be a great dictator, Elon Musk met all the demands of the Brazilian Government, and X, formerly Twitter, will be accessible to all Brazilians in the next 24 hours. Check out the decision and the developments of this true soap opera. 5u4pc
Decision confirms compliance with requirements 3k306z
Alexandre de Moraes, Minister of the Supreme Federal Court, authorized the unblocking of Twitter after the first requests, made in August of this year, were finally fulfilled. See the decree:
I hereby decree the end of the suspension and authorize the immediate return of the activities of X Brasil internet ltda. in national territory and order Anatel (National Telecommunications Agency) to adopt the necessary measures to implement the measure, communicating this Supreme Court within 24 (twenty-four) hours.
Alexandre de Moraes on Twitter unblocking.
The document states that in addition to the requirements, the fines were also paid and transferred to the correct , after an error further delayed the unblocking of X/Twitter last week. The social network should be back up and running in the next few hours and not immediately, as Anatel still needs to notify the operators and the IPs of X/Twitter to be released to customers.
Elon Musk had to comply with three requirements from the Supreme Court for the social network to resume operations here. They are:
- Indication of a legal representative in Brazil;
- Blocking of profiles of nine people investigated by the STF;
- Payment of fines imposed for failure to comply with court orders – the Supreme Court blocked R$18 million from X and Starlink as a guarantee that this would be paid.
The R$18,3 million in fines are just a fraction of what actually had to be paid for Elon Musk's social network to resume operations in Brazil. See the full list below:
- R $ million 10: due to the use of dynamic IPs, which allowed X/Twitter to operate on two days (September 19 and 23), temporarily. This was contrary to the decision set on August 30, 2024;
- R $ 300 thousand: fine applied to legal representative Rachel de Oliveira, for making it difficult to receive court summons from the Brazilian Government. She is the bridge between the government and the social network;
- R $ million 18,3: fine applied to the social network for failing to comply with STF decisions to suspend profiles investigated for spreading fake news, hate speech and attacks on institutions.
X/Twitter blocking timeline 5p5b5g
The fight between the social network and the STF did not start in 2024. In fact, it started in 2021, when the Supreme Court, under the leadership of Alexandre de Moraes, began investigating the dissemination of fake news and the incitement of anti-democratic acts, especially after the 2022 presidential elections.
It is important to emphasize that the minister has stood out as a central figure in the fight against disinformation, issuing several court orders to block social media s that promote anti-democratic speech.
After several attempts of the Minister Alexandre de Moraes After having a conversation with the social network, Elon Musk began to respond to the Brazilian government: in addition to openly criticizing Alexandre on his X profile, Musk made the decision to close the social network's office in Brazil, in August 18th, 2024.
In light of this, we move on to August 28: in response to this event, the minister Alexandre de Moraes, through the official STF , released a demand that Elon Musk indicate a legal representative in Brazil within 24 hours, with the deadline ending in August 29th, 2024.
Without a legal representative and with several outstanding fines, these applied due to other court orders not having been complied with, Alexandre de Moraes determined, on the day August 30th, 2024, that X/Twitter was blocked in Brazil. See the document below:
Operators were forced to block access to their customers throughout the national territory. The court notice was also sent to the Google and Apple . As they own app stores for Android and iOS, these companies had to remove the app from X within 24 hours to prevent new installations. By midnight on August 00, Brazilians were no longer able to post, repost or like.
Elon Musk then made a curious decision: instead of working to get the social network unblocked in Brazil, he went another way. The billionaire created an called Alexandre Files, which, in theory, was created “to reveal the illicit instructions issued to X by Alexandre de Moraes.”
Despite this, in the night of the day September 12, 2024, o Citibank SA and Itau Unibanco SA communicated to the STF that the fine imposed totaling R$18,35 million by Minister of the Federal Supreme Court, Alexandre de Moraes was paid. The amount was transferred directly to the Union's s at Banco do Brasil.
Six days after paying the fines and beginning to reach an agreement with the Brazilian government, the X is back in operation in Brazil, more specifically in September 18. According to information obtained by portal Tele.Synthesis, Elon Musk ordered the exchange of X's IP in Brazil to Cloudflare, making it possible to by Twitter's blocking in Brazil.
A CDN exchange (acronym for content delivery network) fur X, which allows some features to be reactivated, since they also have their own IPs. The result of this? A fine of R$10 million was applied to the social network.
On September 20, another twist: the lawyer Rachel de Oliveira Villa Nova was appointed as the legal representative of the social network, another step towards the social network being unblocked in Brazil. The s indicated by the STF also began to be blocked.
Previously, Vanessa Sousa, a Brazilian lawyer living in England, had been nominated, but she withdrew the position for “strictly personal reasons.” Interestingly, Vanessa withdrew the position on the same day that Twitter resumed operating irregularly in Brazil.
After receiving notification that X had appointed a legal representative, Alexandre requested that more information be sent to the STF, further delaying the unblocking of the social network in Brazil. After that, all that remained was to pay the fines of R$28,6 million.
On October 04, Elon Musk ordered, through foreign resources, that the fines be paid and the unblocking finally be carried out. The big problem is that Elon Musk's social network deposited R$28 million and 600 thousand reais into an at Caixa Econômica Federal. However, the that is in the process belongs to Banco Brasil. Therefore, the minister ordered Caixa to transfer the money to the correct .
The transfer was made to the correct on October 07, 2024, and on the 08th, the Attorney General's Office (PGR) said in a statement, in response to Moraes' simulation, “that there is no reason to keep X blocked in the country”.
On October 09, 2024, 39 days after being blocked in Brazil, X/Twitter received authorization to resume operations in Brazil. The social network, now with a legal representative but still without its own office in Brazil, can operate normally and all Brazilians can use the site, both through the smartphone app and the web version.
While X/Twitter was blocked, did you use other social media options? Let us know in the comments. Comment!
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With some info: Agency Brazil (1 e 2)l G1
Text proofread by: Daniel Coutinho in 09 / 10 / 2024
