星空传媒

Skip to main content

What to know about Elon Musk's 'free speech' feud with a Brazilian judge

FILE - Elon Musk appears at an event in London, on Nov. 2, 2023. (AP Photo / Kirsty Wigglesworth, Pool, File) FILE - Elon Musk appears at an event in London, on Nov. 2, 2023. (AP Photo / Kirsty Wigglesworth, Pool, File)
Share

Headline-grabbing billionaire Elon Musk is clashing with a Supreme Court justice in Brazil over free speech, far-right accounts and misinformation on X, the social media platform Musk bought when it was Twitter.

Since his takeover, Musk has upended many of Twitter's policies, gutted its staff and transformed what people see on the site. As its owner and perhaps most influential user, he's also used it to try to sway political discourse around the world. His latest entanglement is inside the nation of 203 million people that has the largest population and economy in South America.

The South Africa-born CEO of Tesla and SpaceX bought Twitter in 2022 and declares himself a 鈥渇ree speech absolutist.鈥 To his critics, it's absolutism with a political slant. He reinstated previously banned accounts such as the conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and former U.S. President Donald Trump, as well as accounts belonging to neo-Nazis and white supremacists. Advertisers who halted spending on X in response to antisemitic and other hateful material were engaging in 鈥渂lackmail," Musk has alleged.

In the United States, free speech is a constitutional right that鈥檚 much more permissive than in many countries, including Brazil, where Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes this month ordered an investigation into Musk over the dissemination of defamatory fake news and another probe over possible obstruction, incitement and criminal organization.

What accounts has Brazil blocked?

In Brazil, judges can order any site to remove content. Some decisions are sealed from the public.

Neither Brazilian courts nor X have disclosed the list of accounts that have been ordered to stop publishing, but prominent supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro and far-right activists no longer appear on the platform.

Some belong to a network known as 鈥渄igital militias.鈥 They were targeted by a five-year investigation overseen by de Moraes, initially for allegedly spreading defamatory fake news and threats against Supreme Court justices, and then after Bolsonaro's 2022 loss for inciting demonstrations across the country that were pushing to overturn President Luiz In谩cio Lula da Silva's election.

President of the Supreme Electoral Court, Minister Alexandre de Moraes, presides the trial of former President Jair Bolsonaro at the Supreme Court in Brasilia, Brazil, Tuesday, June 27, 2023. (AP Photo / Eraldo Peres)

Who is Justice de Moraes?

De Moraes is unmistakeable, with his bald head, athletic build and sweeping black robe. In his escalating attacks on the judge, Musk called him 鈥淏razil's Darth Vader.鈥

Whether investigating former President Jair Bolsonaro, banishing his far-right allies from social media, or ordering the arrest of supporters who stormed government buildings on Jan. 8, 2023, Moraes has aggressively pursued those he views as undermining Brazil鈥檚 young democracy.

Days after a mob stormed Brazil鈥檚 capital, de Moraes ordered Facebook, Twitter, Telegram, TikTok and Instagram to block the accounts of individuals accused of inciting or supporting attacks on Brazilian democratic order.

How did free speech become a cause for the far right?

Brazil鈥檚 political right has long characterized de Moraes as muzzling free speech and engaging in political persecution. Lawmakers from Bolsonaro鈥檚 circle have been imprisoned and his supporters鈥 homes raided.

Bolsonaro himself became a target of the digital militias investigation in 2021. That was partly because he was casting unfounded doubt on Brazil's electronic voting system. That year, he also told a massive rally that he would no longer comply with de Moraes鈥 decisions, pushing Brazil to the brink of institutional crisis.

What's Musk's role?

Far-right X users have been trying to involve Musk in Brazilian politics for years, said Bruna Santos, lawyer and campaign manager at nonprofit Digital Action.

鈥淭hey often tag him, asking him to take a stand on Moraes,鈥 she said.

On Saturday, he did, republishing a post from X鈥檚 Global Government Affairs, tagging de Moraes and writing: 鈥淲hy are you doing this @alexandre?鈥

Musk posted Saturday that reinstating the accounts 鈥 most of which apparently are blocked only in Brazil 鈥 will 鈥減robably鈥 lead the social media platform to dry up revenue in Brazil and force the company to shutter its local office.

In his decision to investigate Musk, de Moraes accused him of waging a public 鈥渄isinformation campaign鈥 about the top court鈥檚 actions.

Is Musk a 'free speech absolutist'?

While Musk has railed against what he perceives as the censorship of certain viewpoints by Twitter's previous administration, he's also tried to silence critics he doesn't agree with, including journalists and nonprofits reporting on his companies.

Musk had accused the journalists in late 2022 of sharing private information about his whereabouts that he described as 鈥渂asically assassination coordinates.鈥 He provided no evidence for that claim, though earlier Musk decided to permanently ban an account that automatically tracked the flights of his private jet using publicly available data.

Last month, a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit by X against the non-profit Center for Countering Digital Hate, which has documented the increase in hate speech on the site since it was acquired by the Tesla owner.

X had argued the centre鈥檚 researchers violated the site鈥檚 terms of service by improperly compiling public tweets, and that its subsequent reports on the rise of hate speech cost X millions of dollars when advertisers fled.

But U.S. District Court Judge Charles Breyer dismissed the suit, writing in his order that it was 鈥渦nabashedly and vociferously about one thing,鈥 punishing the nonprofit for its speech.

How big is X in Brazil?

Brazil is a key market for X and other platforms. About 40 million Brazilians, or about 18 per cent of the population, access X at least once per month, according to the market research group eMarketer.

Twitter closed offices and laid off employees in Brazil in 2022 after Musk bought the company. It is not clear how many employees X has in Brazil.

X鈥檚 legal representatives in Brazil, law firm Pinheiro Neto, declined to comment. X did not respond to a message for comment.

What happens next?

That depends on Musk and X鈥檚 actions. If they reinstate the accounts in Brazil, the company will face fines 鈥 at least. While fines have generally not phased Musk, experts say they could increase and X could even face suspension.

鈥淭he fines could escalate, eventually leading to the platform鈥檚 suspension. But this is always the last measure, as it harms other users in Brazil,鈥 said Filipe Medon, a data privacy lawyer and professor at the Getulio Vargas Foundation.

Regarding Musk 鈥 a foreign citizen with a company based in the U.S. 鈥 any measures from Brazilian authorities would demand legal cooperation with U.S. authorities.

Ortutay reported from San Francisco, California.

CTVNews.ca 星空传媒

The province's public security minister said he was "shocked" Thursday amid reports that a body believed to be that of a 14-year-old boy was found this week near a Hells Angels hideout near Quebec City.

Shamattawa RCMP are searching for a missing six-year-old boy who hasn鈥檛 been seen since Wednesday morning.

B.C.'s police watchdog is investigating the death of a woman who was shot by the RCMP after allegedly barricading herself in a room with a toddler early Thursday morning.

Quebec Premier Francois Legault is calling on the Bloc Quebecois to topple the Trudeau government next Wednesday and trigger a federal election.

Local Spotlight

They say a dog is a man鈥檚 best friend. In the case of Darren Cropper, from Bonfield, Ont., his three-year-old Siberian husky and golden retriever mix named Bear literally saved his life.

Paleontologists from the Royal B.C. Museum have uncovered "a trove of extraordinary fossils" high in the mountains of northern B.C., the museum announced Thursday.

The search for a missing ancient 28-year-old chocolate donkey ended with a tragic discovery Wednesday.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police is celebrating an important milestone in the organization's history: 50 years since the first women joined the force.

It's been a whirlwind of joyful events for a northern Ontario couple who just welcomed a baby into their family and won the $70 million Lotto Max jackpot last month.

A Good Samaritan in New Brunswick has replaced a man's stolen bottle cart so he can continue to collect cans and bottles in his Moncton neighbourhood.

David Krumholtz, known for roles like Bernard the Elf in The Santa Clause and physicist Isidor Rabi in Oppenheimer, has spent the latter part of his summer filming horror flick Altar in Winnipeg. He says Winnipeg is the most movie-savvy town he's ever been in.

Edmontonians can count themselves lucky to ever see one tiger salamander, let alone the thousands one local woman says recently descended on her childhood home.

A daytrip to the backcountry turned into a frightening experience for a Vancouver couple this weekend.