Elon Musk Slams Brazilian Judge Over Threat to Suspend X

Elon Musk has escalated his clash with Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, calling him “an evil dictator” as the feud over social media platform X intensifies. This latest attack comes after de Moraes threatened to suspend X unless Musk appoints a new legal representative in Brazil and settles any outstanding fines within 24 hours.

In a fiery post on X, Musk described de Moraes as “an evil dictator cosplaying as a judge,” adding to his previous comparison of the judge to “Darth Vader.” Musk retweeted a statement from X’s Global Government Affairs team, promising to release details of the judge’s “illegal demands and related court filings” soon.

Brazil is a key market for social media, with around 40 million users, or roughly 18% of the population, engaging with X at least once a month.

The dispute centers around issues of free speech and alleged misinformation. Earlier this month, X announced it would shut down its operations and lay off staff in Brazil, citing what it described as “censorship orders” from de Moraes. The judge had instructed X to block several accounts he claimed were spreading false information.

On Wednesday evening, the Supreme Court, through its official X account, issued a statement threatening X with suspension unless Musk complied with the demands by Thursday evening local time.

X’s statement on August 17 indicated that the company was compelled to shut its Brazilian operations due to de Moraes’ orders. “Despite our appeals to the Supreme Court and the lack of public awareness about these orders, de Moraes has chosen to target our staff rather than uphold the law,” the statement said. “To protect our employees, we have decided to close our Brazilian office immediately.”

Later, Musk reiterated this position on X, asserting that the company had “no choice” but to cease operations in Brazil due to de Moraes’ demands. “We are forced to shut down our Brazilian operations because de Moraes’ demands would make us violate multiple laws,” he said in a post.