Brazil's Authoritarian Supreme Court Justice Moraes Lifts Ban On X

Infamous Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes on Tuesday authorized the restoration of X´s access in Brazil. The social media platform was blocked on Aug. 30 in the highly online country of 213 million people -- and one of X’s biggest markets, with estimates of its user base ranging from 20 to 40 million.

“The resumption of (X)’s activities on national territory was conditioned, solely, on full compliance with Brazilian laws and absolute observance of the Judiciary’s decisions, out of respect for national sovereignty,” de Moraes said in the court document.

Brazilian law requires foreign companies to have a local legal representative to receive notifications of court decisions and swiftly take any requisite action. But just two days before the ban, on Aug. 28, X said it was removing all its remaining staff in Brazil “effective immediately,” saying de Moraes had threatened with arrest its legal representative in the country, Rachel de Oliveira Villa Nova Conceição, if X did not comply with orders to block accounts.

X named Conceição, who works for business services firm BR4Business, again as its legal representative on Sept. 20, according to public filing with the Sao Paulo commercial registry. And in an apparent effort to shield her from potential violations and risking arrest, a clause has been written into her new representation agreement that she must follow Brazilian law and court decisions, and that any legal responsibility she assumes on X’s behalf requires prior instruction from the company in writing, according to the company’s filing.

“X is proud to return to Brazil,” the company said in a statement posted on its Global Government Affairs account. “Giving tens of millions of Brazilians access to our indispensable platform was paramount throughout this entire process. We will continue to defend freedom of speech, within the boundaries of the law, everywhere we operate.”

Brazil joined Pakistan, Turkey and Egypt, in the group of countries to have temporarily suspended X. Access to the platform remains blocked in countries ruled by authoritarian regimes -- China, Iran, Myanmar, North Korea, Venezuela and Turkmenistan.