Starlink caught in crosshairs of Musk's feud with Brazil judge over X
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Elon Musk during a June event in Cannes, France. Photo: Richard Bord/WireImage
Elon Musk's Starlink said Tuesday it will comply with a Brazil court order to block access after all in the country to X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter that's controlled by the billionaire.
Why it matters: Starlink has been caught in the crosshairs of a misinformation vs. freedom of speech battle between Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes and Musk's X.
- Brazilian telecom agency Anatel told media Sunday that Starlink informed the regulator that it wouldn't comply with the order to block X until officials released the internet satellite business' assets that Moraes froze as he sought to make Musk's social media company comply with a separate order.
Driving the news: "Regardless of the illegal treatment of Starlink in freezing of our assets, we are complying with the order to block access to X in Brazil," wrote Starlink, which has over 200,000 customers in Latin America's largest nation, in a post to X Tuesday.
- An Anatel spokesperson confirmed to Reuters that day that Starlink had begun to block access to X in Brazil.
Context: X has been banned in Brazil since last Saturday after it violated legal requirements by failing to appoint by a court-imposed deadline a legal representative for the social media platform in the country, which is required for matters including the takedown of accounts.
- A Brazilian Supreme Court panel has upheld Moraes' ruling.
Meanwhile, Moraes froze Starlink's accounts in an effort to cover X's fines that exceed $3 million on the grounds the two firms are "part of the same economic group," per AP, which reports that Starlink is appealing the action.
- Musk, who has a controlling stake in Starlink, has countered that the two companies are "completely different companies with different shareholders."
Flashback: X closed its Brazil offices last month and both the company and Musk have accused Moraes of "censorship" and "destroying" free speech over his orders, which stem from the judge's investigations into misinformation and hate speech that led to him ordering certain X accounts to be blocked.
Go deeper: Brazil judge orders suspension of X amid standoff with Musk
Editor's note: This article has been updated with further context.
