Brazil’s Supreme Court Announced on Friday The court ordered banks to transfer funds from Starlink and X accounts to pay fines imposed by the court on Elon Musk’s social network.
The panel, comprised of the court’s Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes and five other judges, found that X had repeatedly violated Brazilian law by refusing to appoint legal representatives in Brazil and by refusing to remove from its platform content and profiles that the court found harmful to Brazil’s democratic institutions.
The court ordered the transfer of about 18.4 million Brazilian reals, or about $3.3 million, from the account.Musk acquired X, then known as Twitter, in 2022.Starlink is a satellite internet service operated by SpaceX.
Following the transfer, the court ordered that the frozen bank accounts and assets of Company X and Starlink be unfrozen, as they were no longer needed.
The court suspended X from his duties at the end of August, and the suspension remains in effect to this day.
Musk and his company have said they view de Moraes’ actions as “unlawful” and that the court order was issued without due process. SpaceX and SpaceX did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Friday.
Brazilian News Agency UOL Earlier this month, some of the accounts Moraes told Musk to suspend on X reportedly belonged to users who had allegedly threatened federal police officers involved in the investigation of Brazil’s former right-wing president, Jair Bolsonaro.
President Bolsonaro has been accused of inciting riots that broke out in Brazil on January 8 and plotting a coup.
Musk is a supporter of Bolsonaro, in part because he has allowed his company, Starlink, to operate in Brazil.
Since April, Musk has stepped up his calls for de Moraes’ humiliation and impeachment. September 5SpaceX COO Gwynne Shotwell, a longtime ally of SpaceX’s steering, also criticized the Brazilian Supreme Court online.
“@Alexandre, please stop harassing Starlink and let us continue serving the people of Brazil,” she wrote.
De Moraes and his STF supporters see the order against Company X as an assertion of Brazilian sovereignty.
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