After a months-long standoff over disinformation, a Brazilian Supreme Court judge banned billionaire Elon Musk’s social media network X in the country on Friday. The judge, Alexandre de Moraes, ordered the “immediate, complete and comprehensive suspension of the operation of” X in the country and told the national communications agency to take “all necessary measures” to implement the order.

Alexandre de Moraes also threatened a fine of 50,000 reais ($8,900) to anyone who used “technological subterfuges” to get around the block, such as a VPN or the virtual private network.

The Elon Musk-Brazil Judge Controversy

The Elon Musk-Alexandre de Moraes controversy began when the Supreme Court judge ordered the suspension of several accounts on X, formerly known as Twitter, belonging to supporters of Brazil’s former president Jair Bolsonaro, who tried to discredit the voting system in the 2022 election, which he lost.

Brazilian authorities are investigating whether Bolsonaro plotted a coup attempt to prevent current President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva from assuming office in January 2023.

In April, Moraes ordered an investigation of Musk, accusing him of reactivating some of the banned accounts.

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X claims that Moraes threatened to arrest one of the company’s legal representatives in Brazil if it did not comply.

Musk’s platform had shut all of its Brazil offices due to what it called “censorship” by the judge, though its service had remained available for users in the country.

“We have a right to defend fundamental rights. Those who violate democracy, who violate fundamental human rights, whether in person or through social media, must be held accountable,” Moraes said in a speech on Friday, apparently referring to X.

Ban On Elon Musk’ X In Brazil

The Brazilian Supreme Court judge said the suspension would remain until all related court orders on X were complied with, including the payment of fines amounting to 18.5 million reais ($3.28 million), which he had previously slapped on the social media network for ignoring judicial orders.

The order will also be valid until a representative of the company in the country is appointed, he said.

Moraes also froze the financial assets of Musk’s Starlink by issuing an order to block the accounts of the satellite internet network that has rapidly expanded the number of its users in Brazil.

On Wednesday, he told Musk he had 24 hours to find a new representative or he would face suspension. However, as the deadline passed, X said in a statement that it expected Moraes to shut it down “simply because we would not comply with his illegal orders to censor his political opponents.”

X reportedly has more than 22 million users in Brazil.

What Elon Musk Said

Elon Musk, who took over X in 2022, reacted sharply to the ban and branded Alexandre de Moraes an “evil dictator cosplaying as a judge”.

He also accused him of “trying to destroy democracy in Brazil.”

“Free speech is the bedrock of democracy and an unelected pseudo-judge in Brazil is destroying it for political purposes,” he wrote on X.

“They’re shutting down the #1 source of truth in Brazil,” Musk added.

(With agency inputs)

Elon Musk’s social media giant X has clashed with Justice Alexandre de Moraes (in picture) over its reluctance to comply with orders to block users. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

A Brazilian Supreme Court justice has ordered the suspension of Elon Musk’s social media giant X in Brazil after the tech billionaire refused to name a legal representative in the country, according to a copy of the decision seen by The Associated Press. The move on Friday (August 30, 2024) further escalates the monthslong feud between the two men over free speech, far-right accounts and misinformation.

Justice Alexandre de Moraes had warned Mr. Musk on Wednesday (August 28, 2024) night that X could be blocked in Brazil if he failed to comply with his order to name a representative, and established a 24-hour deadline. The company hasn’t had a representative in the country since earlier this month. Mr. De Moraes said the platform would remain blocked until it complies.

Brazil is an important market for X, which has struggled with the loss of advertisers since Mr. Musk purchased the former Twitter in 2022. Market research group Emarketer says some 40 million Brazilians, roughly one-fifth of the population, access X at least once per month.

X had posted on its official Global Government Affairs page late on Thursday that it expected X to be shut down by Mr. de Moraes, “simply because we would not comply with his illegal orders to censor his political opponents”.

“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,” the company wrote. “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.” X has clashed with Mr. de Moraes over its reluctance to comply with orders to block users.

Accounts that the platform previously has shut down on Brazilian orders include lawmakers affiliated with former President Jair Bolsonaro’s right-wing party and activists accused of undermining Brazilian democracy.

Mr. Musk, a self-proclaimed “free speech absolutist”, has repeatedly claimed the justice’s actions amount to censorship, and his argument has been echoed by Brazil’s political right. He has often insulted Mr. de Moraes on his platform, characterising him as a dictator and tyrant.

Mr. De Moraes’ defenders have said his actions aimed at X have been lawful, supported by most of the court’s full Bench and have served to protect democracy at a time in which it is imperilled. His order on Friday is based on Brazilian law requiring foreign companies to have representation in the country so they can be notified when there are legal cases against them.

Given that operators are aware of the widely publicised standoff and their obligation to comply with an order from Mr. de Moraes, plus the fact doing so isn’t complicated, X could be offline as early as 12 hours after receiving their instructions, said Luca Belli, coordinator of the Technology and Society Centre at the Getulio Vargas Foundation, a university in Rio de Janeiro.

Washington:

Conspiracy theories about the assassination attempt on Donald Trump received tens of millions of views on X, researchers said Tuesday, highlighting the potential for extreme falsehoods to go viral on the Elon Musk-owned platform.

The social media site, formerly named Twitter, was flooded with unsubstantiated claims soon after the shooting Saturday at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, which left one spectator dead and a bloodied Trump injured in the ear.

Those included unfounded assertions that the assassination attempt had been “staged” or an “inside job,” while fingers were pointed at imaginary culprits such as Jews and the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad.

The conspiracy theories were viewed over 215 million times on X, the watchdog Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) said after analyzing a sample of 100 popular posts.

A majority of the posts did not carry a “Community Note,” a crowd-sourced moderation tool that Musk has promoted as the way for users to add context to the tweets, CCDH added.

In the first 24 hours alone, unsubstantiated narratives around the incident amassed more than 100 million views on X, according to the nonprofit research group Institute for Strategic Dialogue.

X did not respond to a request for comment.

Internet hoaxers also falsely identified several people as the shooter — including Italian sports journalist Marco Violi, anti-Trump protester Maxwell Yearick and comedian Sam Hyde, AFP’s fact-checkers reported.

Federal investigators have identified the shooter, who was killed on the scene, as Thomas Matthew Crooks of Pennsylvania.

In the immediate aftermath of the shooting, several social media users voiced confusion as they scrambled to obtain accurate information in what appeared to be a sea of false or misleading posts, which rapidly gained traction.

The trend illustrates the ability of falsehoods to mutate into viral political discourse on tech platforms including X, which now offer fewer guardrails as they scale back content moderation.

Researchers say some clout-chasing accounts on the platform have a financial motive to post sensational falsehoods, as X’s ad revenue-sharing program incentivizes extreme content designed to boost engagement.

“In the marketplace of disinformation — which is effectively what a lot of social media platforms have now been reduced to, a marketplace for lies — extreme content is your currency,” said Imran Ahmed, chief executive and founder of CCDH.

“The algorithms take the most outlandish content and amplify it exponentially until the entire digital world is flooded with conspiracism, disinformation and hate.”

Researchers have warned about a possible firehose of disinformation in the run up to the November election, which will take place in a deeply polarized political climate in the United States.

“Already, at an early stage in the US electoral cycle, we can see flashing warning signs that social media in the weeks and months ahead will be increasingly chaotic and rife with disinformation,” Ahmed said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Billionaire Elon Musk’s platform X, which was formerly known as Twitter, is now valued at less than half of what he purchased it for, a year ago. Mr Musk has earlier acknowledged that he had overpaid for Twitter, which he bought for $44 billion, including $33.5 billion in equity. Now, the current value of the company is at $19 billion, almost 55 per cent less than half of what he spent on the social media platform, as per the New York Times. 

The documentation pertaining to the recent stock awards said that X would be providing the equity at a price of $45 per share, with employees able to accumulate restricted stock units over time. According to the company, employees who were issued shares under the previous management would still receive cash payments totalling $54.20 for those shares. However, it is unclear why the share price has not decreased by the same percentage as the company’s worth.

In March this year, Mr Musk told the employees at the company that he believed the company was worth $20 billion and labelled it “an inverse start-up.”

Since taking over Twitter a year ago, Mr Musk has completely redesigned both the business and the social media network. He laid off around 7,500 employees across the globe. Later, modified the content-moderation guidelines and introduced the paid verification procedure. Moreover, advertising, which is a major source of revenue for the company, saw a major drop which caused the cash flow to remain negative in August 2023 with a heavy debt load.

However, the billionaire remains optimistic towards the company’s growth strategy and transforming it into an “everything app”. In a meeting organised on the first anniversary of the acquisition, Mr Musk said, “We’re rapidly transforming the company from sort of what it was, Twitter 1.0, to the everything app with an all-inclusive feature app where you can basically do anything you want on our system. He also spoke about including new features to the microblogging site including dating service.

Although the new owner and CEO Linda Yaccarino were physically absent from the company headquarters, both showered praise on the employees for aiding with the rebranding of the company and launching new features including a revenue share program for the creators, video calls in direct messages and improved live streaming quality.

Billionaire Elon Musk’s X, the social media formerly known as Twitter, is facing 2,200 arbitration claims from ex-employees since Mr. Musk took over the company and fired most of its workforce. The filing fees alone for that volume of cases could amount to $3.5 million.

The lawsuit was filed in a Delaware district court, according to CNBC. The case is Chris Woodfield v. Twitter, X Corp. and Elon Musk (No. 1:23-cv-780-CFC).

A former employee, Woodfield, a former senior staff network engineer who had worked at Twitter’s Seattle office in his suit said that Twitter had promised then failed to pay his severance, and later delayed alternative dispute resolution by failing to pay the necessary fees required for him to move ahead in the JAMS arbitration system, CNBC reported.

According to the website for JAMS, “For two-party matters, the Filing Fee is $2,000,” and “For matters based on a clause or agreement that is required as a condition of employment, the employee is only required to pay $400.”

Since JAMS decided that this basic fee applies across the board to X’s 2,200 arbitration cases, that would amount to around $3.5 million, with other fees possibly to follow.

However, the company’s lawyers have argued that it did not mandate its employees to resolve any issues in arbitration, so it should not be on the hook for the larger portion of the filing fees.

Meanwhile, Mr. Woodfield and others in a similar situation are trying to get out of arbitration and move their cases to trial.

Elon Musk faced a lot of criticism when he took over social media platform Twitter (now known as X) last year. He rebranded the platform in pursuit of the “everything app” for which he received mixed reviews from social media users. But on Sunday, the world’s richest man was criticised publicly when he attended the Valorant World Championship Final, according to a report in Independent. Though he was briefly shown on camera, the crowd erupted in cacophony of boos and “bring back Twitter”. According to the outlet, Mr Musk attended the event with one of his sons.

Mr Musk was shown for roughly four seconds before the camera switched back to live gameplay.

Elon Musk getting booed at VALORANT Champs and the crowd starts chanting “bring back Twitter” lmao pic.twitter.com/lDoWse78YV

— Jake Lucky (@JakeSucky) August 26, 2023

The clip has amassed nearly 15 million views on X, the platform Mr Musk owns.

“Where is that from? That can’t be from in here, surely,” Independent quoted one of the commentators as saying amid the booing.

Even after the camera returned to focus on the game play, the crowd continued to shout “Bring back Twitter!”

The clip also received a flurry of reactions from X users.

“Getting booed by Valorant players is like getting wedgies by the anime club in middle school,” said one user. “Lol we want a new logo,” commented another.

“That was actually a very sweet chant compared to all the other things they could of chanted,” a third user said.

After taking over the company, Mr Musk has rolled out several changes. Twitter Blue was arguably the biggest one. Also, the blue badge of legacy verification was done away with and Mr Musk introduced a paid verification system.

Another move by Musk that sparked outrage was his decision to reinstate many high-profile accounts suspended by the previous Twitter leadership.