For more than two weeks, Brazilians have been unable to access X. Brazil's Supreme Court blocked the platform after Elon Musk failed to comply with court rulings. While X is evading the ban and Musk's companies are slowly working on a solution, the real concern for many is not just the absence of social media. It is Musk's power play with the government while supporting Brazil's far right.
X was banned on August 30 after months of back-and-forth between Musk and Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes. The conflict began in April when Musk made public the government's requests for information and then lifted all restrictions imposed by Brazilian court orders on X's profiles. Moraes responded by including Musk in an investigation for organized political disinformation and subpoenaing X's Brazilian legal representative. Musk then abruptly ceased local operations, after which Moraes banned the company for violating local laws.
Since then, negotiations between both sides have progressed gradually. The Supreme Court announced a transfer of R$18.3 million from X and Starlink to the state treasury, indirectly paying a fine for not removing content. Moraes then ordered the blocking of both companies' bank accounts. Musk reportedly met with Vanessa Souza, a Brazilian specialist in cyber law, and he has hired two lawyers to represent X in Brazil. Moraes then asked if X had resumed operations, which could ultimately pave the way for the ban to be lifted.
But Musk's public response has been largely confrontational. In recent weeks, he has criticized the Brazilian Supreme Court's decision and the president, claiming the ban violates freedom of speech and sets a dangerous precedent. He has won public support, especially from far-right influencers and politicians.
And this week, some Brazilians briefly regained access to X. According to the Brazilian Association of Internet and Telecommunications Providers (ABRINT), X made a “significant” update on Sept. 18, changing its design to now use IP addresses associated with Cloudflare and bypassing service provider blocks. ABRINT said the update put providers in a “delicate situation” while regulators tried to get it re-banned. X officially called the ban “accidental and temporary,” but Moraes imposed additional fines on the company for what he called “deliberate, illegal and persistent” evasion, pointing to a tweet from Musk that seemed to celebrate the move.
Musk's resistance is part of a long flirtation with Brazil's currently powerless far right. “He's not just an influencer of the far right, he's an activist,” says Camila Rocha, a researcher at the Brazilian Center for Analysis and Planning (CEBRAP) and political scientist. “The collaboration, the harmony between what's happening in Brazil and what's going on in the networks is enormous.” Whatever happens next in the X-Brazil saga, Musk could claim it's a victory.
A court could clear the way for X to return; in the short term, it has escaped its ban
Luiz Augusto D'Urso, a lawyer specializing in digital law, describes the closure of X's Brazilian office as a dramatic gesture that forced Moraes to act. “It's important to note that the Supreme Court's original ruling was never to block the platform. Things escalated,” says D'Urso. “The last ruling before the ban required the platform to appoint a legal representative in Brazil, which is a legal obligation. When Musk refused, the result was the suspension.”
Musk wasted no time turning the issue into a political spectacle. On August 29, in a post about the Starlink asset freeze, he referred to Judge Moraes as “the tyrant, @Alexandre, dictator of Brazil” and said:[Brazilian President] Lula is his lapdog.” Another article describes Moraes as “an avowed criminal of the worst kind who poses as a judge.”
Brazil's right wing has also seized the opportunity, portraying the X-ban as a fight for freedom of expression. Musk interacted with supporters of the far right by using emojis of the Brazilian flag (a symbol of the movement in this context). He supported demonstrations on September 7, Brazil's Independence Day, by sharing profiles supporting Jair Bolsonaro and calling on users to participate, and he posted a photo of himself next to former President Bolsonaro.
Rocha points out that Musk's support for Brazil's far-right has been evident for years. The billionaire has become popular in parts of Brazil thanks to his satellite internet service, Starlink, which operates across the country and especially in the Amazon region. Starlink also provides services to the Brazilian armed forces.
This activism is consistent with his support of right-wing politics around the world, including in other parts of Latin America. Musk maintains a friendly relationship with Argentine President Javier Milei, with whom he agrees on “the importance of technological development for the progress of humanity.” Milei has supported Musk throughout the conflict with the Brazilian Supreme Court, accusing him of wanting to “ban the space where citizens freely exchange ideas.”
Musk even suggested (perhaps jokingly) that he will “put down whoever we want” in Latin America, in response to allegations that the US government intervened against Bolivian President Evo Morales to secure Tesla's lithium supply.
In Brazil, Musk – who despite his public commitment to free speech has blocked content at the behest of conservative governments – could benefit from staunch support from Bolsonaro's far right. “He presents himself as a defender of freedom, but he is exclusively business-oriented and has no commitment to democracy,” says Sérgio Soares Braga, a researcher at the National Institute of Science and Technology for Digital Democracy (INCT.DD). The far right offers a clearer path to the “unregulated capitalism” that Musk advocates.
“He presents himself as a defender of freedom, but is exclusively business-oriented”
But Musk's resistance is also a direct fight over how and whether American technology companies (and especially internet companies) can be regulated abroad. An open letter dated September 17, translated by The edge, described the ban as part of a “developing global conflict between digital corporations and those who want to build a democratic, human-centered digital landscape focused on social and economic development.” Musk was accused of sabotaging “and working against the ability of the public sector to create and maintain an independent digital agenda based on local values, needs and aspirations.” The letter was signed by more than 50 intellectuals, including economist Mariana Mazzucato and author Cory Doctorow.
“Musk wants to control a wide range of industries, from Big Tech to electric vehicles, which gives him significant economic power and geopolitical influence,” says Braga. In Brazil, however, Braga argues, he has overstepped his bounds. “He cannot abuse that power to interfere with a country's sovereignty.”
Musk is making sacrifices by keeping X offline. Rival social networks have benefited from the ban – Bluesky, for example, says it has gained millions of new users, mostly from Brazil. “There is increasing suspicion that Musk has ulterior motives,” Rocha says. “Why would he keep X offline for so long? What is in it for him?”
One possible answer is that Musk doesn’t have much left, lose by shrinking Twitter's base in Brazil. The platform has already reportedly lost at least 71 percent of its value since Musk took over, and shows little sign of recovering. (In contrast, Musk's Starlink eventually gave in to demands to block X, though it says it is still pursuing legal action.) It's more important to take a stand against Brazil's policies – not out of idealism, but in a pragmatic attempt to gain more control.
But for D'Urso, Musk's end goal is clear: He benefits in both cases. “If he backs down, he presents himself as the man who prevailed against the Supreme Court. If X remains banned, he becomes a martyr and claims to be persecuted. For him, it's a win-win situation.”