X, formerly known as Twitter, said it expected to be blocked in Brazil after failing to meet a deadline to appoint new legal representatives for the company.
The social media network closed its offices in the country earlier this month, saying its representative had been threatened with arrest if she did not comply with what it called “censorship” orders.
The months-long dispute began when Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered the suspension of dozens of X accounts in April for allegedly spreading false information.
X owner Elon Musk threatened to reactivate the accounts and described Judge Moraes as a “tyrant” and “dictator.”
Judge Morais gave X 24 hours to appoint new legal representation or face suspension, with the deadline set at just after 20:00 local time (23:00 GMT) on Thursday.
The ban is expected to take approximately 12 hours to take effect.
but In a post posted by one of its official accounts shortly after the deadline passedX made it clear that the order was not complied with.
“Soon, we expect Judge Alexandre de Moraes to order the closure of X in Brazil – simply because we will not comply with his illegal orders to censor political opponents,” the post read.
“The fundamental issue here is that Judge De Morais is asking us to violate Brazil’s own laws. We simply will not do that.”
X said it would not “comply with unlawful orders in secret,” adding that it would publish the judge’s request in the coming days “in the interest of transparency.”
Judge Moraes ordered that X accounts accused of spreading false information, many of them supporters of former right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro, must be blocked while they are under investigation. He said the company’s legal representatives would be held liable if any accounts were reactivated.
At the same time, according to an order from the Brazilian Supreme Court, the bank account of Musk’s satellite network company Starlink in Brazil has been frozen.
Starlink posted a response on
Musk also said on X, “SpaceX and X are two completely different companies with different shareholders.”
Starlink is a subsidiary of Mr Musk’s rocket company SpaceX.
Judge Moraes rose to prominence after deciding to restrict social media platforms in the country.
He is also investigating the role of Bolsonaro and his supporters in an alleged attempted coup on January 8 last year.
