X is suspending its operations in Brazil immediately, but its service will remain available to subscribers.

X has announced the immediate cessation of its business operations in Brazil; however, the service will remain accessible to users. The company alleges that Alexandre de Moraes, the president of the Superior Electoral Court and a justice of the Supreme Federal Court, threatened one of its legal representatives with arrest should it fail to adhere to his censorship directives.

As reported by Reuters, de Moraes insisted that X eliminate specific content from its platform. Instead of complying, X has terminated its local operations “to ensure the safety of our personnel.”

X contends that de Moraes issued the threat through a “secret order,” which the company subsequently made public. Elon Musk, the owner of X, asserted that the demand “would compel us to violate (in secret) Brazilian, Argentinian, American, and international law.” He further remarked that “the decision to close the 𝕏 office in Brazil was challenging; however, if we had acquiesced to @alexandre’s (illegal) secret censorship and demands for private information transfer, we would have found it impossible to justify our actions without feeling ashamed.”

“Although our repeated requests to the Supreme Court have gone unacknowledged, the Brazilian public remains uninformed about these directives, and our Brazilian team lacks any authority or oversight regarding content blocking on our platform, Moraes has opted to intimidate our staff in Brazil instead of adhering to legal standards or due process,” stated X on its Global Government Affairs account. “[de Moraes’] conduct is at odds with the principles of democratic governance. The citizens of Brazil face a decision — democracy or Alexandre de Moraes.”

Musk has been vocal against de Moraes for several months. In April, he declared his intention to disregard the legislator’s orders to block specific accounts in Brazil, asserting that such actions were unconstitutional. In retaliation, de Moraes initiated an obstruction of justice investigation against Musk. Later that month, X announced its commitment to comply with all directives from Brazil’s highest courts.

Additionally, the House Judiciary Committee published an interim staff report in April, alleging that the Brazilian government was attempting to compel X (and other social media platforms) to censor over 300 accounts. This list reportedly included accounts belonging to former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro, a federal senator, and a journalist.

X currently does not have a public relations team available for comment.

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