A heated feud between Brazilian Supreme Court Judge Alexandre de Moraes and billionaire Elon Musk has reached a boiling point.
The dispute centres around the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, and its operations in Brazil.
In a recent development, Musk’s company Starlink announced on Thursday that its assets had been frozen in Brazil amid the standoff.
“Earlier this week we received an order from Brazil’s Supreme Court Justice @alexandre de Moraes that freezes Starlink’s finances and prevents Starlink from conducting financial transactions in that country.
“This order is based on an unfounded determination that Starlink should be responsible for the fines levied—unconstitutionally—against X,” the satellite internet operator posted on X.
The company further stated that it intended “to address the matter legally.”
NewsNGR reported that Judge Moraes ordered Musk to appoint a new legal representative for X in Brazil within 24 hours, threatening to suspend the social network’s activities in the country if compliance was not met.
“In the event of non-compliance with the order, the decision provides for suspending the social network’s activities in Brazil,” it said.
Musk responded with a sarcastic message on X, posting a doctored photo depicting Judge Moraes as a villain – “Voldemort and a Sith Lord” -of the Harry Potter and Star Wars sagas, and accusing him of breaking the law “he has sworn to uphold”.
Also in response to the court order, X Global Government Affairs tweeted:
“Soon, we expect Judge Alexandre de Moraes will order X to be shut down in Brazil – simply because we would not comply with his illegal orders to censor his political opponents. These enemies include a duly elected Senator and a 16-year-old girl, among others.
“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. 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.”
The billionaire has been vocal about his stance on free speech and has clashed with Judge Moraes, who has been a vocal advocate for combating disinformation in Brazil.
Several of the X accounts ordered by the Supreme Court to be suspended belonged to supporters of Brazil’s former far-right president Jair Bolsonaro, who tried to discredit the voting system in the 2022 election, which he lost.
The situation has escalated, with Musk shutting down X’s business operations in Brazil and Judge Moraes opening an inquiry into Musk’s actions.
“As a result, to protect the safety of our staff, we have decided to close our operation in Brazil, effective immediately,” X Global Affairs posted.