X goes offline in Brazil as Musk blasts Supreme Court's 'pseudo-judge'

Social media platform X has officially gone offline in Brazil. Users were not able to log in to the app Saturday morning (Aug 31) as internet providers and mobile network companies started enforcing the ban.

A Supreme Court judge earlier on Friday ordered the suspension of Elon Musk-owned X (formerly Twitter) after the social media network failed to comply with an order to name a new legal representative in the country.

Judge Alexandre de Moraes handed the ruling and ordered the "immediate, complete and total suspension of X's operations" in the country "until all court orders are complied with, fines are duly paid and anew legal representative for the company is appointed in the country”.

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The Internet Service Providers (ISP) and app stores in the South American country weregiven five days to block access to X. Meanwhile, individuals or companies who usevirtual private networks, or VPNs, to access X, will be subjected to daily fines of $8,900 (50,000 reais)

The decision did not go down well with the billionaire who took potshots at the justice by calling him a 'pseudo-judge'.

"Free speech is the bedrock of democracy and an unelected pseudo-judge in Brazil is destroying it for political purposes," Musk wrote on X.

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X will not comply

Musk, a self-proclaimed 'free-speech absolutist' has claimed that Moraes' decision amounts to censorship. In the lead-up to the decision, the X ownerhas often characterised the Brazilian judgeas a dictator and tyrant.

X has previously stated that it will not comply with the orders of the court to appoint an executive.

"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," X posted on its official Global Government Affairs page earlier this week.

"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," the company wrote.

Musk has received support from Brazil's political right which haslong portrayed Moraes as overreaching to suppress free speech and engage in political persecution.

Meanwhile, Moraes' supportersargue that his actions are lawful, backed by at least the majority of the court's bench, and have been necessary to safeguard democracy in a time when it is under threat.

(With inputs from agencies)