UX faces an additional $1.9M fine to end the ban in Brazil

UX (formerly Twitter) may soon restart service in Brazil – if they are willing to pay an additional fine.

Reuters and other publications reported on the order of the Supreme Court of the country Alexandre de Moraes that the social network owned by Elon Musk can “immediately return to its activities in the territory of the country” if it pays a fine of 10 million reais (about $1.9 million).

That’s on top of the 18.3 million reais ($3.4 million) X was already fined. Brazil has frozen the accounts of X’s internet company and Musk’s satellite company Starlink to pay the fine, but to move forward, Moraes said Starlink needs to withdraw its complaint about the payments.

For most of this year, X has been locked in a legal battle over Moraes’ attempt to block certain accounts he accused of posting false information about the election. (Musk said Moraes “must resign or be prosecuted.”) The company eventually shut down operations in Brazil and was closed in the country at the end of August.

The ban caused competing services, including Bluesky, to rise in popularity.

Recently, however, X appeared to be reversing course, agreeing to freeze the designated accounts, pay the required fines, and appoint a legal representative in Brazil. Moraes is telling the company to pay the additional fine after X appeared to have bypassed the ban earlier this month and resumed operations in the country – apparently an “accident” caused by X’s switch to Cloudflare’s infrastructure.

X’s Global Government Affairs account appears to acknowledge its approval in a post on Thursday, writing, “We recognize and respect the sovereignty of the countries we operate in,” and saying that providing access to Brazilian users is “essential to a thriving democracy.” “