{"id":2216630,"date":"2024-04-09T15:37:03","date_gmt":"2024-04-09T19:37:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/brazilian-supreme-court-takes-on-elon-musk-and-x-in-social-media-crackdown\/"},"modified":"2024-04-09T15:40:21","modified_gmt":"2024-04-09T19:40:21","slug":"brazilian-supreme-court-takes-on-elon-musk-and-x-in-social-media-crackdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/brazilian-supreme-court-takes-on-elon-musk-and-x-in-social-media-crackdown\/","title":{"rendered":"Brazil&#8217;s Highest Court Challenges Elon Musk and X in Social Media Clampdown"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fbrazilian-supreme-court-takes-on-elon-musk-and-x-in-social-media-crackdown%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2216630&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Over the weekend, Brazil&#8217;s Supreme Court ordered \u200ba <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/the-new-acting-attorney-general-jeff-rosen-recently-wrote-an-essay-on-foreign-influence-in-us-elections-this-tells-us-a-little-about-his-knowledge-of-whats-going-on-today\/\" title=\"The New Acting Attorney General Jeff Rosen Recently Wrote an Essay on Foreign Influence in US Elections \u2013 This Tells Us A Little About His Knowledge of What\u2019s Going On Today\">social media platform<\/a> to block accounts, prompting Elon Musk to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/elon-musk-reveals-what-type-of-social-media-platform-he-is-giving-serious-thought-to-creating\/\" title=\"Elon Musk Reveals What Type Of Social Media Platform He Is Giving \u2018Serious Thought To\u2019 Creating\">prioritize free speech<\/a> over profits. Musk plans to lift\u200b speech restrictions once his employees \u200bare safe. The Court accuses Musk of obstruction of justice. Other tech companies face scrutiny for compliance \u2062with speech restrictions \u2064in Brazil. The country&#8217;s \u2062internet laws are becoming more stringent,\u200d leading to concerns about censorship.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">This past weekend Brazil\u2019s Federal Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered X to block a number of popular accounts. Almost immediately after, Elon Musk said that free speech principles matter more than profits. And he announced plans to defy the court\u2019s order and lift all speech restrictions in the country once his employees are in a \u201csafe place\u201d where they are not at risk of being arrested. Musk says he expects he will ultimately be forced to shut down X\u2019s office in Brazil and will lose all revenue there.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">On April 7, shortly after Musk\u2019s announcement, de Moraes issued a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.migalhas.com.br\/quentes\/404983\/moraes-inclui-elon-musk-no-inquerito-das-milicias-digitais\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">decision<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">  adding Musk to a broader investigation. In this new inquiry, the judge accused Musk of obstruction of justice and incitement to crime. \u201cThe flagrant conduct of obstruction of Brazilian Justice, incitement to crime, public threat of disobedience to court orders and future lack of cooperation by the platform are facts that disrespect Brazil\u2019s sovereignty and reinforce the connection of the intentional criminal instrumentalization of the activities of the former Twitter,\u201d he wrote. Many now expect the Brazilian Supreme Court to shut off access to X at any moment.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Nor is X the only American social media company being targeted by president Lula da Silva\u2019s government. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Facebook, Google, and others have faced investigations for what the same court called \u201cabusive practices.\u201d Though it appears those platforms have complied with speech restrictions to some degree, Musk is the only big tech executive to have engaged in a public fight with the court.<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_720967\" style=\"width: 876px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\">\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-720967\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ton Molina\/NurPhoto via Getty Images<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Brazil\u2019s government has leaned heavily on lawfare in its attempt to squeeze American social media platforms into compliance. Before presiding over Musk\u2019s case, de Moraes ordered investigations into <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/states-push-to-rein-in-big-tech-as-federal-gears-grind-slow\/\" title=\"States Push to Rein in Big Tech as Federal Gears Grind Slow\">big tech executives<\/a> at other companies after they lobbied against a proposal to regulate Brazil\u2019s internet. If passed, the Law on Freedom, Responsibility, and Transparency on the Internet, colloquially known as the \u201cFake News Bill,\u201d will levy large fines against the tech companies if they fail to identify and report illegal content.<\/span><\/p>\n<h4><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/podcasts\/morning-wire\/trump-s-fundraiser-haul-brazilian-online-censorship-4-8-24\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">LISTEN: Catch the full story on Morning Wire<\/a><\/strong><\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Due to such legislation, the definition of illegal speech in Brazil has been rapidly expanding to potentially include anything labeled \u201cmisinformation\u201d by the government. Independent journalist Michael Shellenberger, who is in Brazil and broke parts of this story, said it\u2019s not an exaggeration to say that Brazil is \u201con the brink of dictatorship.\u201d He <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/shellenberger\/status\/1776776372351836642\/video\/1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">lambasted<\/a> a number of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/businessman-kevin-oleary-defends-free-speech-online\/\" title=\"Businessman Kevin O\u2019Leary defends free speech online\">big tech companies<\/a> for giving in to the demands of Brazilian authorities, saying, \u201cI know censorship when I see it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cThe Twitter files revealed also that Google, Facebook, Uber, WhatsApp and Instagram betrayed the people of Brazil,\u201d Shellenberger said. \u201cIf this evidence is proven and admitted to, the executives of those companies behaved like cowards. They provided the Brazilian government with personal registration data and telephone numbers without a court order. Therefore, they violated the Brazilian laws.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Musk has said he plans to publish on X everything the Brazilian judge has ordered, and these posts will explain how the court\u2019s demands violate Brazilian law. \u201cThis judge has brazenly and repeatedly betrayed the constitution and people of Brazil. He should resign or be impeached,\u201d Musk posted.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">But Musk may face opposition not only from the Brazilian government, but also from the U.S. State Department, who some former officials are accusing of helping to engineer Brazil\u2019s censorship efforts.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Former Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Communications and Information Policy Mike Benz said the CIA and other U.S. foreign policy divisions fear rising populism in countries like Brazil. <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/MikeBenzCyber\/status\/1776826555328549308\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">According to Benz<\/a>, these State Department divisions and associated NGO\u2019s helped President Lula da Silva secure power over his populist rival Jair Bolsonaro by funding censorship groups to suppress so-called election \u201cmisinformation.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cWhen I was looking into what was behind censorship in Brazil, it turned out what was driving it appeared to be a gaggle of US State Department funded NGOs,\u201d Benz said in a video posted to X. \u201cNational Endowment for Democracy, USAID, and the National Endowment for Democracy [were] funding a bunch of domestic censorship groups in Brazil. This actually goes right back to the beginning of Bolsonaro his tenure in 2019.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Benz added that the State Department doesn\u2019t want to see Brazilian citizens openly criticizing their country\u2019s government on social media any more than Da Silva does.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">On April 7, after Musk promised to publish all records pertaining to Brazil\u2019s crackdown on X, Brazil\u2019s Attorney General Jorge Messias called for \u201curgent regulation\u201d of all <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/babylon-bee-slams-nyt-after-being-called-far-right-misinformation-site\/\" title=\"Babylon Bee Slams NYT After Being Called \u2018Far-Right Misinformation Site\u2019\">social media networks<\/a>, saying, \u201cWe cannot live in a society in which billionaires domiciled abroad have control of social networks\u2026\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Over the weekend, Brazil&#8217;s Federal Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes directed X to restrict several accounts. Elon Musk promptly prioritized free speech over profits and vowed to challenge the court&#8217;s decision by lifting speech limitations once his employees are ready<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":112,"featured_media":2216631,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/dw-wp-production.imgix.net\/2024\/02\/GettyImages-1242720271.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[541],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2216630","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-daily-wire"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/dw-wp-production.imgix.net\/2024\/02\/GettyImages-1242720271.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2216630","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/112"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2216630"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2216630\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2216631"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2216630"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2216630"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2216630"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}