Elon Musk Targets Brazilian Supreme Court Justice in Ongoing Feud Over X
Elon Musk has intensified his online attacks against Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, labeling him “an evil dictator” in the latest development of their ongoing feud, CNN reports.
The clash escalated after de Moraes threatened to suspend the social media platform X if Musk did not appoint a legal representative for the company in Brazil and address outstanding daily fines within a 24-hour deadline.
“Alexandre de Moraes is an evil dictator cosplaying as a judge,” Musk said on X, continuing his trend of harsh rhetoric towards the justice.
Previously, he had referred to de Moraes as “Darth Vader.” This latest comment follows a recent retweet from X’s Global Government Affairs team, which announced plans to publish the judge’s “illegal demands and all related court filings” in the days to come.
As one of the largest markets for social media, Brazil has around 40 million X users, making up around 18% of the country’s population, according to reports from the Associated Press.
This public feud centers around issues of free speech and allegations of disinformation. Earlier this month, X announced it would cease operations and lay off its Brazilian staff, citing “censorship orders” issued by de Moraes that mandated the blocking of several X accounts accused of spreading misinformation.
The Supreme Court’s statement, signed by de Moraes, was made public via the court’s official X account, tagging both Musk and X’s Global Government Affairs team. It was released around 8:30 PM local time on Wednesday, granting Musk until Thursday evening to respond.
On August 17, X issued a statement detailing its decision to discontinue operations in Brazil due to these “censorship orders.” The company expressed frustration over its appeals to the Supreme Court.
“Despite our numerous appeals to the Supreme Court not being heard, the Brazilian public not being informed about these orders and our Brazilian staff having no responsibility or control over whether content is blocked on our platform, Moraes has chosen to threaten our staff in Brazil rather than respect the law or due process,” the company said.
It added that the decision to close operations was made to protect the safety of employees and placed responsibility squarely on de Moraes.
“As a result, to protect the safety of our staff, we have made the decision to close our operation in Brazil, effective immediately. The X service remains available to the people of Brazil. We are deeply saddened that we have been forced to make this decision,” the company’s statement read.
Musk later echoed this sentiment on X, stating that due to de Moraes’ demands, which he claimed would compel the platform to violate various national and international laws, the closure of its Brazilian operations was unavoidable.
“X has no choice but to close our local operations in Brazil,” Musk wrote.
