Brazil top court unfreezes bank accounts of X, Starlink after $3m transfer

Billionaire Elon Musk has decried a ban on X in Brazil, where the social media company failed to comply with court orders.

Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes has unfrozen the bank accounts of the social media platform X and the satellite internet company Starlink after ordering the transfer of more than $3m owed in fines.

In a statement on Friday, the country’s highest court said the Brazilian government retrieved 7.2 million Brazilian reais ($1.3m) from an X bank account and almost 11 million Brazilian reais ($1.9m) from a Starlink account to settle the fines.

“After the payment of the full amount that was owed, Justice [de Moraes] considered there was no need to keep the bank accounts frozen and ordered the immediate unfreezing of bank accounts/financial assets,” the statement says.

De Moraes previously made the controversial decision to ban X in Brazil after its owner, right-wing billionaire Elon Musk, refused to comply with court orders to remove accounts accused of spreading misinformation.

The social media platform also failed to meet a deadline to name a legal representative in Brazil, as required by law.

Musk owns both X and Starlink and initially, after the court’s ban on X, Starlink representatives reportedly indicated their internet service would not comply with the restriction.

Still, the decision to penalise both X and Starlink has been questioned by legal analysts since they function as separate companies.

In response to the court’s decision to shutter X, Musk called de Moraes an “evil dictator”.

The South African billionaire has shown a penchant for promoting far-right conspiracy theories and false claims about election fraud.

Musk also expressed sympathy for supporters of Brazil’s former right-wing leader, Jair Bolsonaro, who spread unsubstantiated claims about the country’s October 2022 election, which he lost.

Bolsonaro’s supporters ultimately called for a military coup to reverse his loss and stormed the country’s legislature on January 8, 2023. Bolsonaro has since been barred from holding office until 2030, and like Musk, he has clashed with Justice de Moraes over inquiries into his actions.

While Musk has denounced efforts by liberal governments to restrict the spread of false claims on X, he has expressed few qualms in the past about removing content at the request of right-wing governments seeking to crack down on dissent or silence critical voices.

In 2023, X, previously known as Twitter, agreed to a request from the government of India’s Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi to block access to a BBC documentary exploring his role in an anti-Muslim pogrom in 2002.

“The rules in India for what can appear on social media are quite strict, and we can’t go beyond the laws of the country,” Musk said at the time. “If we have a choice of either our people go to prison or we comply with the laws, we will comply with the laws.”

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Al Jazeera and news agencies