Brazil’s Supreme Court has ordered the suspension of X (formerly Twitter) services within the country. The court had previously demanded the company remove accounts spreading political misinformation, but X failed to comply.
Following the ruling, CEO Elon Musk criticized the Brazilian government in a series of posts on his X account, stating, “Free speech is the bedrock of democracy.” Musk further accused the Brazilian government of fearing that “people learning the truth” highlighting his opposition to the court’s decision.
Musk also advised users to utilise VPNs (*1) to continue accessing X even if it were blocked. However, the Brazilian government has warned that those who use VPNs to bypass the ban will face a fine of 50,000 reais per day (approximately 130,000 USD).
*1 VPN, or Virtual Private Network, allows users to access the internet by routing their connection through servers located outside the country. This can enable access to X by bypassing local restrictions imposed by Brazil.
Additionally, Brazil’s Supreme Court has imposed fines on X for its noncompliance, with the total amount now exceeding 18 million reais (approximately 4.7 million USD).
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