Musk in his X post said, “The decision to close the 𝕏 office in Brazil was difficult, but, if we had agreed to Alexandre de Moraes (illegal) secret censorship and private information handover demands, there was no way we could explain our actions without being ashamed.”
X alleges that Moraes secretly threatened one of its legal representatives in Brazil with arrest if the platform did not comply with orders to remove certain content.Brazil’s Supreme Court, where Moraes serves as a justice, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Despite the operational halt, the X service remains accessible to the people of Brazil, according to the platform.
Earlier this year, Moraes had ordered X to block specific accounts as part of an investigation into “digital militias” accused of spreading fake news and hate messages during the presidency of far-right former President Jair Bolsonaro.
Moraes opened an inquiry into billionaire Elon Musk after Musk announced plans to reactivate accounts previously blocked by the judge. Musk has criticised Moraes’ decisions as “unconstitutional.”