Starlink Backtracks on Refusal to Comply With X Ban

UPDATE Sep 4, 2024 12:30 AM CDT

Elon Musk's satellite-based internet service provider Starlink backtracked Tuesday and said it will comply with a Brazilian Supreme Court justice's order to block the billionaire's social media platform, X, the AP reports. Starlink said in a statement posted on X that it will heed the judge's order despite him having frozen the company's assets. "Regardless of the illegal treatment of Starlink in freezing our assets, we are complying with the order to block access to X in Brazil," the company statement said. "We continue to pursue all legal avenues, as are others who agree that @alexandre's recent order violate[s] the Brazilian constitution." He froze Starlink's accounts last week as a means to compel it to cover X's fines that already exceeded $3 million, reasoning that the two companies are part of the same economic group. (More of the latest here.)

Sep 2, 2024 12:30 PM CDT

A Brazilian Supreme Court panel has upheld the decision of one of its justices to block billionaire Elon Musk's social media platform X nationwide, according to the court's website. The broader support among justices deals a blow to Musk and his supporters, who have sought to characterize Justice Alexandre de Moraes as a renegade and authoritarian censor of political speech, the AP reports.

• The panel is comprised of five of the full bench's 11 justices, including de Moraes, who last Friday ordered the platform blocked for having failed to name a local legal representative, as required by law. X will remain blocked until it complies with his orders and pays outstanding fines that as of last week exceeded $3 million, according to his decision.

• De Moraes' also set a daily fine of 50,000 reais ($8,900) for people or companies using virtual private networks, or VPNs, to access X. Some legal experts questioned the grounds for that decision and how it would be enforced, including Brazil's bar association, which said it would request the Supreme Court review that provision.
• But the majority of the panel on Monday upheld both the block and VPN fine—with one justice opposing the latter, unless users are shown to be using X to commit crimes.
• Brazil is one of the biggest markets for X, with tens of millions of users. The block marked a dramatic escalation in a monthslong feud between Musk and de Moraes over free speech, far-right accounts, and misinformation.
• Starlink said Sunday that it will not comply with a court order to block X, New York Times reports. Musk controls the satellite-internet company, which is a subsidiary of SpaceX.

(More X.com stories.)