Musk’s X available again in Brazil after 40-day ban

Published October 9, 2024 Updated October 9, 2024 11:04pm

Elon Musk’s social media platform X, which was banned in Brazil for 40 days in a legal tussle over disinformation, was available again on Wednesday.

The site was accessible from inside Brazil, X’s largest Latin American market, a day after the Supreme Court lifted the suspension.

Users reacted enthusiastically to its return with the hashtag “voltou” (I’m back) trending.

The reactivation appeared to be taking place progressively, however, with some users still failing to connect.

X had 22 million users in Brazil before it was blocked on August 30 by Supreme Court judge Alexandre de Moraes for failing to comply with a series of court orders aimed at combatting disinformation.

Moraes authorised it to resume activities on Tuesday after X paid millions of dollars in fines and complied with various other demands.

The showdown between the powerful judge and Musk — the world’s richest man, who has been accused of allowing hate speech and disinformation to proliferate on the site formerly known as Twitter — was closely watched around the world.

Musk had lashed out at Moraes over the ban, calling him an “evil dictator” and dubbing him “Voldemort”, after the villain from the Harry Potter series.

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