X is banned in Brazil but how did we get here? Let me explain.
The surge in popularity of the populist-right is happening all over the world. it was not different in Brazil. With the presidential election of Jair Bolsonaro in 2018 there was a coordenated push to over-extend government powers over social media.
In the mean time, Elon Musk acquired Twitter, which he soon renamed as X.
The Supreme Court of Brazil has had a combative approach to dealing with criticism and considers criticism of the Judges as an attack to the institution they represent (I'm not exaggerating). So to protect the "democratic institutions" several accounts got banned, people got fined and arrested.
In January 8th 2023, several people went to the city capital (Brazilia) to protest against the presidential elections which some suspect were heavily fraudulent. People broke windows, police intervened and a little under 1000 people got arrested. Some of them are still jailed to this very day.
This made the repression machine work on full gear.
The censorship continued and the requests for private information and account banning increased every week.
Elon Musk decided to not obey those orders anymore. So the requests for info on the users started to arrive with threats of fines and jail. This made Elon Musk confront the Supreme Court, in special Alexandre de Moraes, in public. Musk denounced the Judge's illegal orders and refused to cooperate.
Earlier this month, August 2024, X announced it had terminated its operations in Brazil so they would not subject themselves to these arbitrary rulings.
The Supreme Court ordered X to have at least one representative in Brazil - basicly they wanted someone they could jail anytime - and Elon Musk said fuck it, we are out.
Starlink assets got seized.
Starlink assets? Yes, Starlink, a complete separate company, got its assets seized by the brazilian government due to its link with Elon Musk. It was clearly a retaliation act. One small issue: the brazilian armed forces and isolated communities rely on starlink for communications in remote places. This would disrupt Defense operations and small communities. A small price to pay for "democracy"
X did not retreat.
Soon after an order was issued with a formal ban of X in Brazil.
The full extent of the ban is:
- X.com is banned in Brazil and cannot be accessed by anyone on brazilian territory
- The use of VPNs or other technological means to circumvent this ban may result in a fine of around USD$10k a day.
- App stores must remove VPN apps from their catalogs
As of today, from around a hour ago, X is inaccessible in Brazil without VPN.
Twitter (X) is one of the main social medias accessed by brazilian, it is particularly popular with urban Millenials. Brazilians are the 6th country in absolute numbers of users on Twitter (X). Twitter was the main platform for outsider candidates to make an impact and reach to the public since they would get close to no money for campaigning and TV ads. In Brazil there Mayoral elections will happen in November and this ban literally affects the outcomes by removing one of the main platforms of discussion from the country.
I hope this is a cautionary tale for all of us.
This will have a chilling effect on further foreign investment in Brazil. A dangerous place to do business now.