Brazil judge, Musk standoff intensifies as Starlink assets frozen

AFP | Brasilia

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A standoff between a Brazilian Supreme Court judge and Elon Musk intensified as the billionaire’s Starlink company said its assets had been frozen in the country amid a feud over the fate of his social media platform X.

The episode began Wednesday when Brazilian Supreme Court Judge Alexandre de Moraes threatened to suspend X, formerly known as Twitter, unless Musk named a new legal representative for the company in Brazil within 24 hours.

Then on Thursday, Musk’s satellite internet operator Starlink said it had received an order from Moraes that “freezes Starlink’s finances and prevents Starlink from conducting financial transactions” in the country.

Starlink, which operates in Brazil, particularly in the Amazon, alleged that the order “is based on an unfounded determination that Starlink should be responsible for the fines levied -- unconstitutionally -- against X.”

The company said on X that it intended “to address the matter legally.” Moraes, who also presides over Brazil’s Superior Electoral Tribunal, has spearheaded a battle against disinformation in South America’s largest nation, clashing with Musk along the way.

Several of the X accounts he ordered suspended belonged to supporters of Brazil’s former far-right president Jair Bolsonaro, who tried to discredit the voting system in the 2022 election, which he lost. Moraes’s Wednesday decision escalated the monthslong feud. Already in April, Moraes had ordered an investigation of Musk, accusing him of reactivating some of the banned accounts.