Brazil lifts the ban on Elon Musk’s phone

Brazil’s Supreme Court said it had lifted the ban on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.

Judge Alexandre de Moraes said in his decision that he allowed the “immediate return” of X’s activities in the country after it paid heavy fines and blocked accounts accused of spreading misleading information.

According to a statementthe site paid fines totaling 28 million reais ($5.1 million; £3.8 million) and agreed to appoint a local representative, as required by Brazilian law.

Moraes had blocked access to the platform owned by Elon Musk, after it refused to block several profiles that the government considered to be spreading misleading information about the 2022 Brazilian presidential elections.

Anatel, Brazil’s communications watchdog, has been instructed to ensure the resumption of service for more than 20 million users in the country within 24 hours.

After months of defying court orders, Musk fired the company’s Brazilian employees in late August and closed X’s office in Brazil.

“The decision to close the X offices in Brazil was difficult,” Musk, who also runs electric car maker Tesla and rocket company SpaceX, wrote at the time.

The billionaire businessman, a self-proclaimed “pro-free speech,” called Judge Moraes’ move to ban dozens of accounts an abuse of power and a violation of free speech.

Several days later, Judge Moraes ordered the entire platform to be blocked across the country.

Many users turned to alternative sites like Bluesky, and demand for VPNs (virtual proxy networks) in Brazil rose.

But in September, the platform began complying with court orders in an apparent U-turn.

X said on Tuesday that he was “proud to be back in Brazil.”

“Giving tens of millions of Brazilians access to our indispensable platform has been critical throughout this entire process,” its government affairs team said. he wrote in a statement.

It appears that X has now complied with all of the judge’s demands in order to lift the ban.

Brazil is one of the platform’s largest markets worldwide, as well as the largest in Latin America, with an estimated 22 million users.