Brazil X / Twitter Ban Controversy

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Overview

Brazil X / Twitter Ban Controversy refers to the possible ban of Elon Musk's social media platform X, formerly Twitter, in Brazil after the company failed to name a legal representative in August 2024 in the country as ordered by the Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Judge Alexandre de Moraes. Musk responded to the judge's order with insults, calling de Moraes a "tyrant" and "a dictator," which sparked more discussions and memes about the social media platform's possible ban in Brazil.

Background

On August 17th, 2024, X announced it would close its operations in Brazil, claiming Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Judge Alexandre de Moraes threatened to arrest its legal representative in the country if they did not comply with their orders.^[1]

That same day, the X^[2] Global Affairs account shared a statement alleging "censorship orders" from de Moraes and that his actions "are incompatible with democratic government." The post (seen below) amassed over 126,000 likes and 41,000 reposts in two weeks.

Developments

Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Ban X

On August 28th, 2024, Alexandre de Moraes issued an ultimatum to X CEO Elon Musk, demanding that Musk inform him who the company's legal representative in Brazil is within 24 hours. If the order was not complied with, the platform would've been immediately suspended in Brazilian territory.^[3]

YouTuber^[4] @TLDRdaily posted a video on August 29th, 2024, explaining de Moraes' ultimatum against X (seen below), which amassed roughly 44,000 views and 2,600 likes in a day.

Elon Musk's Response

On August 29th, 2024, Elon Musk^[5] called Brazilian Judge Alexandre de Moraes a "dictator" and said that Brazil's President Lula da Silva was his lapdog on his X account. The tweet (seen below) came after de Moraes blocked the financial accounts of his internet satellite company Starlink in Brazil. Musk's post amassed over 216,000 likes and 42,000 reposts in a day.

A day later, on August 30th, Musk then started calling^[6] the Brazilian Judge "Dictator de Voldemort" for what some perceived as a resemblance between de Moraes and the Harry Potter villain Voldemort. That same day, the X CEO also reposted an image comparing de Moraes with the fictional character (seen below), amassing over 100,000 likes and 8,800 respots in a few hours.

Online Reactions

News of the potential X ban in Brazil and the controversy between Elon Musk and Judge Alexandre de Moraes sparked a series of discussions on the social media platform in late August 2024, including jokes shared by Brazilians about the migration to other platforms in case the shutdown occurs.

For instance, on August 29th, 2024, X^[7] user @not_weav posted about the Brazilian Miku trend, writing, "The country gives you a cute art trend… and you ban it," which received roughly 11,000 likes and 1,000 reposts in a day.

On August 29th, 2024, X^[8] user @lobisomempidao posted a reaction video of a bald man walking in hills joking about de Moraes after he banned X from Brazil. The post (seen below) amassed more than 15,000 likes and 2,100 reposts in a day.