Elon Musk and X to Comply with Brazilian Government Demands After Weeks of Defiance
After weeks of grandstanding about his defiance of a Brazilian Government order to censor certain users in the app, it looks like Elon Musk is going to comply with Brazilian officials’ demands after all. X informed Brazilian authorities that it will now adhere to their requests late last week.
To recap, back in April, the Brazilian Supreme Court ordered X to comply with government orders to suppress certain accounts, which Brazilian leadership determined to have been spreading false reports and hate speech, mostly related to the 2022 election. X refused to action the request, saying that it was not legal under Brazilian law, and not within its new “free speech” aligned moderation approach. That led to a stand-off between the two, with X finally evacuating staff in Brazil earlier this month, under threat of arrest for local representatives, which then saw Brazil place a full ban on the app.
This ban immediately cut off X’s access to 20 million users, but now, after 3 weeks of losses, X has decided to comply with the Brazilian requests after all.
As reported by The New York Times:
X had complied with orders from Brazil’s Supreme Court in the hopes that the court would lift a block on its site. According to reports, X’s lawyers have agreed to block the accounts in question, while it’s also named a new official representative in the country, a requirement of its operation in the nation. X now has five days to file official paperwork on the update, which could then see X re-activated in Brazil by the end of this week.
Which will be a relief for X’s marketing team, which is under pressure to increase revenue at the app. Losing access to such a significant market will only hamper their efforts on this front, while it’s also seen X lose a heap of user activity throughout the period.
X will still have to pay its accumulated fines, including a penalty for continuing to offer the app in Brazil via VPN. Those fines will stretch into the millions, but getting X back online will obviously be worth more for the company in the long term.
Even if it’ll be seen as a back down from Musk himself.
As noted, Musk has repeatedly attacked Brazilian leadership for their “unjust” treatment of the platform, which included X setting up a specific profile in the app to reveal the unlawful directives issued to X by Brazilian Supreme Court Minister Alexandre de Moraes.
Musk used the Brazilian ban as a statement piece for his free speech push, admonishing Brazilian authorities and calling on Brazilians to take action against them. But now, he’s taking the penalties on the chin and adhering to their requests.
Which is not really surprising. X and Musk did the same back in April, initially defying the Brazilian court’s request, then quietly adhering to it shortly after. In this sense, it’s as much about the appearance of taking a stand as actually taking one, with Musk loudly and passionately arguing for free speech, above all else, then reversing that approach when the financial impacts stack up.
And that also makes sense. X is reportedly in a fairly dire financial situation, and even one of the richest people in the world needs to factor that into his thinking when actioning such.
But it does belie Musk’s public defiance somewhat, and his stated stance that he’ll uphold free speech, despite any potential losses he incurs as a result.