(Rio de Janeiro) On Sunday, a Brazilian Supreme Court judge ordered the opening of an investigation against Elon Musk, the owner of the “X” platform, who accused him of “censorship” and demanded his resignation during repeated attacks on this social network since then. Saturday.
In a legal ruling seen by AFP, Judge Alexandre de Moraes spoke of “alleged criminal exploitation of X” by the billionaire, who also heads Space
It also charged the social network $27,000 for each reactivated profile.
In recent years, this same judge ordered the ban of X's accounts, some of which he suspected of spreading misinformation.
Photo by Eraldo Pérez, associated press archive
Alexandre de Morais
“Social networks are not lawless territories!”, he insisted in capital letters in his legal ruling.
On Saturday evening, Mr. Musk began a series of attacks on…
“We will probably lose all our revenue in Brazil and will have to close our offices there,” he stressed, stressing that principles are more important than profit.
On Sunday, he returned to the charge, saying Judge Alexandre de Moraes should “resign or be fired” because he “brazenly and repeatedly betrayed the Constitution and the people of Brazil.”
Bolsonaro's pet peeve
A divisive figure, a tyrant to some and a passionate defender of democracy to others, Alexandre de Moraes is one of the eleven members of the Brazilian Supreme Court. He also presides over the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE).
He is leading the fight against disinformation in Brazil, and ordered the ban on the accounts of influential figures on social networks, most of whom are sympathetic to former far-right president Jair Bolsonaro (2019-2022).
The latter was declared ineligible in June 2023 by the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, headed by Alexandre de Moraes, for spreading false information about the Brazilian electoral system. He is also the target of investigation for an “attempted coup” after his electoral defeat to leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in October 2022.
Shortly after the first attacks launched by the Tesla CEO against the judge on Saturday, Jorge Mesías, the Union Prosecutor, responsible for defending the interests of the Lula government, called for the “urgent regulation of social networks.”
He added: “We cannot live in a society where billionaires living abroad control social media and are willing to violate the rule of law, disobey judicial orders and threaten our authorities.” .
But many of Jair Bolsonaro's supporters welcomed the billionaire's stance. “I hope that something historic has begun: the return of freedom to our country,” Rep. Nicholas Ferreira said on Channel X.
“Music guru. Incurable web practitioner. Thinker. Lifelong zombie junkie. Tv buff. Typical organizer. Evil beer scholar.”
