Elon Musk vs Brazil: Starlink agrees to block X in the country, but war of words continues
In a major U-turn after days of escalations, Elon Musk-owned satellite-based internet service provider, Starlink, has agreed to comply with a Brazilian Supreme Court order to block the social media platform X in the country.
Starlink agrees to block X
On Tuesday, Starlink said in a statement posted on X that it would heed Justice Alexandre de Moraes's order despite his having frozen the company's assets.
¡°Regardless of the illegal treatment of Starlink in freezing our assets, we are complying with the order to block access to X in Brazil. We continue to pursue all legal avenues, as are others who agree that @alexandre's recent order violates the Brazilian constitution,¡± the Starlink statement noted.
This is a major climbdown by the American tech giant, which had previously told Brazil's telecommunications regulator that it would not comply until de Moraes reversed course.
Why Starlink agreed to block X
While it is unclear what led Starlink to walk back on its stance, some believe that defying the court order would have resulted in telecommunications regulator Anatel seizing equipment from Starlink¡¯s 23 ground stations in Brazil.
Also read:?Elon Musk picks a new battle, this time with a Brazilian Judge over Starlink, X
Musk vs Brazil SC judge
SpaceX and CEO Musk had gone on a warpath with Justice de Moraes over his decision to ban X in Brazil after the social media platform refused to block users¡ªmostly far-right activists accused of undermining Brazilian democracy and allies of former President Jair Bolsonaro.
Evil tyrant, dictator and more...
Musk went on a verbal tirade on X for days, calling Justice de Moraes an authoritarian, dictator, and more, while even suggesting that Brazilian people should topple the democratically elected government of Luiz In¨¢cio Lula da Silva.
Musk continued with his name-calling of Justice de Moraes even on Tuesday.
¡°This evil tyrant is a disgrace to judges' robes,¡± Musk wrote on X along with a photo of de Moraes.
Use VPN to access X: Musk
While Starlink has agreed to block X in Brazil, Musk himself has been posting about how to circumvent the restrictions using a VPN. In the past few days, Musk has posted or re-posted several posts explaining that X is still accessible in Brazil using a VPN service. He had even re-posted a post from a user who said that he was posting on X using a VPN.
Did?de Moraes overstep the line?
Though the war of words is unlikely to end anytime soon, many, including some in Brazil, have pointed out that Justice de Moraes's order blocking the bank accounts of Starlink may be illegal.
Judge de Moraes blocked Starlink's account due to a failure by X to comply with an SC ruling. However, many have pointed out that while X is owned by Musk, who is also the CEO of SpaceX, the parent company of Starlink, the two are separate entities and one cannot be held accountable for the wrongdoings of the other.
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