Brazil lifts sanctions on X and Starlink after receiving USD 3.31 million transfer

Judge of the Supreme Federal Court of Brazil Alexandre de Moraes Starlink and the social network decided to remove the previously imposed bans on X accounts 18.35 million rais (USD 3.31 million) transfer from Elon Musk to the national treasury of the country.

The lifting was ordered as the amount transferred to Brazil’s treasury reached, according to a judicial statement on Friday X is the amount payable to the country as penaltyIt was imposed amid a dispute between billionaire Elon Musk and judge Alexandre de Moraes. Musk controls both X and Starlink.

According to a statement by the judiciary body released this Friday, the Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered the transfer of funds and the accounts were frozen. Now speculation has begun about whether the Brazilian justice system is going to lift the social network blockade in the country.

Musk is embroiled in a dispute with Brazil’s most powerful judge, whom he presides over A campaign against fake news and hate speech in Latin America’s largest nation. Magistrate Alexandre de Moraes last month ordered the ban on the platform, known as Twitter, and the American tech entrepreneur’s attempt to pay fines imposed for defying an earlier order that the company had misrepresented and refused to appoint a legal representative in Brazil.

“Accounts were frozen as the court deemed joint liability for payment of fines between X Brazil Internet Limited and Starlink Brazil Internet Services Limited.”The court noted this Friday.

Moraes also froze resources from X and Starlink, which have been operating in Brazil since 2022, especially in communities far from the Amazon that guaranteed fines. The blockage affected 22 million X users who started migrating to smaller networks like Bluesky and Threads.

The Brazilian judge’s decision spurred him on A debate on freedom of expression and the limits of social networks In and out of the South American country. The platform’s suspension was praised by the left, led by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and criticized by the right-wing opposition. Former President Jair Bolsonaro described Moraes as a “dictator”.

According to an AtlasIntel survey of more than 1,600 interviewees, a majority of Brazilians (56.5%) saw “political motivation” in Moraes’ decision and rated the court’s actions on X as “weakly democratic” (54, 4%).

(With information from AFP, Bloomberg and Reuters)