What does Brazil’s X ban mean for Elon Musk and his fellow tech bros?

By Charlie Sawyer

Published Sep 5, 2024 at 09:00 AM

Reading time: 3 minutes

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Image courtesy of Elon Musk from X

Welcome back to Explained By a Blonde, this week I’m going to try and unpack the recent decision by Brazil to say sayonara to both Musk and X. As a personal Twitter stan, this news was beyond upsetting. Is X mega problematic at times? 100 per cent. But, is it also a crucial lifeline for a lot of people and the epicentre of some of the funniest sh*t the internet has ever seen? 100 per cent. The platform itself is saveable, however, the guy at the helm has got to go.

On Friday 30 August 2024, the Supreme Court in Brazil ordered for the social media platform X (formerly Twitter) to be banned from the country, following a long dispute with Chief Technical Officer (CTO) and owner Elon Musk regarding disinformation and fraudulent news. It took only two days for the court to unanimously vote to uphold the ban, on Monday 2 September.

But what does it actually mean? Will this move encourage other countries to take a stand against Musk’s blatant refusal to properly monitor X? And if so, will they be enacting real change or will their agenda negatively impact millions of ordinary people as opposed to the men in charge?

Brazil has had mad beef with Musk for a minute now. Indeed, a lot of people would argue that if the Tesla CEO were not at the helm of X—protecting far-right accounts and spreading his own barrage of misogyny and racism—a ban would have never come about.

So, how exactly did we get here? And how will Brazil’s decision impact the rest of the world? Will other countries begin to follow suit? Will Keir Starmer go after X after he’s done with smoking? Let’s discuss it, shall we babes?

Brazil banned X after Elon Musk missed a court-imposed deadline to appoint a new legal representative in the country. While this might have been the final straw, it definitely wasn’t the only one.

According to the BBC, this entire ordeal began when Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered Musk to disable numerous accounts on X that had been allegedly spreading misinformation.

A majority of this fraudulent news has supposedly been in relation to former president Jair Bolsonaro’s defeat in 2022. Spurred on by a highly effective social media campaign, the politician’s followers subsequently stormed Brazil’s Congress, an act of violence that many have argued was fuelled by electoral misinformation.

In response to the court’s decision to impose a ban, Musk stated: “Free speech is the bedrock of democracy and an unelected pseudo-judge in Brazil is destroying it for political purposes.” Oh, he also called de Moraes “Brazil’s Voldemort.” Ever the grown-up, Elon.

Everyone knows that Musk regularly refuses to monitor and shut down far-right accounts on X—it’s basically his signature trademark at this point. Under the guise of being a “free speech absolutist,” Musk has actively supported and amplified the voices of Donald Trump, Marjorie Taylor Green, and Andrew Tate.

As reported by Al Jazeera, Musk has not only skewed X’s algorithm in favour of Christian nationalists and, um, lunatics, but he’s also suppressed progressive and liberal views and spoken incredibly disgustingly about prominent Democrats such as presidential candidate Kamala Harris. The tech bro referred to Harris’ politics as a “philosophy [that] would cause a de facto holocaust for all of humanity!” before then casually referring to her as a “communist.”

And it’s not just politicians. Individual users, news publishers, and prominent influencers have all experienced Musk’s wrath and bias. For example, in December 2022, the executive chairman temporarily banned several left-leaning journalists who were openly critical of him on X, only to repeat this cycle in January 2024.

During their vote, a number of the Supreme Court Justices in Brazil emphasised how no one was exempt from the country’s laws and federal constitution.

Brazil’s decision to ban X understandably shook a lot of people since it signified a shift in global attitude. The South American country’s bold move made a statement that no one is above the law and that even someone as powerful and influential as Musk must be held accountable for flagrant displays of authoritarianism.

Now, while I’m always in favour of publicly embarrassing an unhinged and egotistical white man, Brazil’s ban cuts its people off from a crucial lifeline. Moreover, the ban seems to have only further encouraged right-wing users to spread rhetoric that Musk is being unfairly penalised by loopy and woke progressives.

Currently, no other countries have stated that they are planning to introduce a ban, however, with this news—alongside the arrest and ongoing investigation into controversial Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov—it’s evident that conversations among government officials regarding the future of social media are taking place.

If X continues to be penalised on regulation and compliance failings, who’s to say that another ban won’t occur? TJ McIntyre, associate professor at the Sutherland School of Law, University College Dublin, Ireland, told Newsweek: “[In] regards to the US, it’s not impossible that one state could attempt to criminalise offering a service to another state. This is already happening with porn sites facing bans in some states (which may or may not be upheld by the courts).”

And are we all forgetting that the US government is still pretty hell-bent on banning TikTok? While the reasoning behind that prospective ban is of course very specific, is it unimaginable to think that X might be next?

Social media regulation has never been so important, and while Brazil’s ban might feel like one nation gone rogue, it could actually be the start of something much bigger. Just saying.