Members of Brazil’s supreme court have unanimously voted to uphold the ban on X, after Elon Musk’s refusal to comply with local laws led to the social network being blocked in one of its biggest markets.
On Monday, five of the court’s justices were asked to consider Friday’s decision to temporarily banish X from Brazil, where the platform has more than 21 million users. By lunchtime all five had voted in favour of the ban.
Casting his vote in favor of X’s continued suspension, Flávio Dino said the company’s decision to “deliberately” ignore a court order to name a legal representative in Brazil suggested it “considered itself above the rule of law”.
Such behavior risked turning X into an “outlaw”, Dino added, indicating that he could revisit his decision in the future if the company corrected its “illegal conduct”.
Judge Cristiano Zanin also backed the ban, citing how X had “systematically” flouted supreme court orders, first to block accounts that were allegedly spreading disinformation and then to name a local representative.
“The repeated noncompliance with supreme court decisions is extremely serious for any citizen or legal entity, be they public or private. No one can seek to perform their activities in Brazil without complying with the laws and the federal constitution,” Zanin argued.
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