Elon Musk pays fines of R$18M and Moraes orders the unblocking of Starlink and X accounts in Brazil

Two weeks after the X (formerly Twitter) block, Elon Musk begins to comply with the orders of the Supreme Federal Court (STF) and paid fines imposed after the social network failed to comply with orders and also did not have a legal representative for X in our country. Understand the case and what comes next.

Musk advances in negotiations with Brazil

On the night of September 12, 2024, the Citibank SA and Itau Unibanco SA communicated to the STF that the fine imposed totaling R$18,35 million by Minister of the Federal Supreme Court, Alexandre de Moraes. The amount was transferred directly to the Union's accounts at Banco do Brasil.

With that, Alexandre, on September 13, considered the fines as paid and determined that both Starlink and X accounts be unblocked. This was done after the non-compliance with what had been defined by Alexandre de Moraes: remove content after an order from the STF in ongoing investigations and do not indicate a legal representative for X in Brazil.

On August 30, 2024, the X (formerly Twitter) is no longer allowed to operate in Brazil and all major operators in Brazil had to block access to the social network. Since then, Brazilians no longer have access to Twitter.

Is Twitter unblocking coming soon?

This is an important step for Elon Musk in his work to “make peace” with the Brazilian Federal Government, but such payment of fines does not affect the decision of Alexandre de Moraes to block Elon Musk's social network. This is because, even though he has paid the fines, Musk has not yet appointed a person to respond for the social network in case any request is made by the government.

Thus, the blocking of X in Brazil still has no end in sight. It can also be said that Elon is trying, in every way, not to negotiate with Brazil: the billionaire created an account called Alexandre Files on Twitter, where he cites, for all who want to see, confidential decisions by Alexandre de Moraes focused on disclosing “illegal directives”.

We can only wait for more information to know if the X will be unlocked in Brazil or not. Do you think this block will last longer? Tell us in the comments. Comment!

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With information: The Gazette

Text proofread by: Daniel Coutinho (13 / 09 / 24)