'Will Happen In America Too If Kamala, Walz Gain Power': Elon Musk Fumes As X Is Shut Down In Brazil

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk was left fuming on Friday after a Brazilian Supreme Court judge ordered the suspension of his X social media network in the country, following a months-long standoff.

In one of the dozen posts rebuking the judgment, the billionaire linked Brazil’s X ban to the US election and claimed that free speech would be threatened if Democratic nominee Kamala Harris and her running mate Tim Walz were elected in the upcoming election.

‘Will happen in America too’

“The attacks this year on free speech are unprecedented in the 21st century. It will happen in America too if Kamala/Walz gain power. Just listen to what they’ve said,” claimed Musk, a vocal supporter of former President Donald Trump’s bid to regain the White House.

His reaction came after the judge, Alexandre de Moraes, handed down the ruling after Musk failed to comply with an order to name a new legal representative for the company. Musk reacted with fury, branding Moraes an “evil dictator cosplaying as a judge” and accusing him of “trying to destroy democracy in Brazil.”

‘Free speech absolutist’

Musk has previously declared himself a “free speech absolutist,” but since he took over the platform formerly known as Twitter in 2022, he has been accused of giving a free pass to right-wing conspiracy theories. Moraes ordered the “complete suspension of the operation of” X in the country, telling the local authorities to take “all necessary measures” to implement the order within 24 hours. He threatened a fine of $8,900 to anyone who used “technological subterfuges” to get around the block, such as a VPN.

The social media platform has more than 22 million users in Brazil. Musk shut X’s business operations in Brazil earlier this month, claiming Moraes had threatened the company’s previous legal representative with arrest to force compliance with “censorship orders.” On Wednesday, Moraes told Musk he had 24 hours to find a new representative or he would face suspension.

Shortly after the deadline passed, X said that it expected Moraes to shut it down “simply because we would not comply with his illegal orders to censor his political opponents.” The standoff with Musk began when Moraes ordered the suspension of several X accounts belonging to supporters of Brazil’s former president Jair Bolsonaro, who tried to discredit the voting system in the 2022 election, which he lost.

(With agency inputs)