Elon Musk threatened a top judge in Brazil after the country’s highest court said it could block his social media website, X, if it didn’t appoint a local legal representative by Thursday night.
Musk responded to the top court’s ultimatum with a seemingly AI-generated image of a supreme court justice who has been spearheading efforts in Brazil to crack down on hate speech and misinformation. The image, which showed the justice, Alexandre de Moraes, behind bars, was accompanied by a threatening message that tagged him.
“One day, @Alexandre, this picture of you in prison will be real. Mark my words,” Musk wrote in the post.
One day, @Alexandre, this picture of you in prison will be real. Mark my words. pic.twitter.com/ZkHExAwQxm
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 29, 2024
Musk’s threat was the latest blow in a curious social media scuffle with real-world implications involving the world’s richest man and Brazil’s highest court.
Last week, X said that de Moraes threatened to jail X’s legal representative in Brazil if the company did not comply with what it characterized as the judge’s “censorship orders,” according to a post on the company’s official global affairs X account. X said in the same post that it was shutting down its operations in Brazil, while still allowing its estimated 20 million users in the country to access the social media website.
Commenting in reply to X’s post, the official account for Brazil’s highest court posted a ruling dictated by de Moraes that said X had 24 hours to appoint a legal representative. Under Brazilian law, social media websites such as X are required to have a legal representative located in the country.
The court’s post sparked Musk’s digital threat, which he followed with a taunting post that showed de Moraes’s name on an image of toilet paper.
X replied to an email seeking comment with the automated response “Busy now, please check back later.”
The fiery digital exchange comes after de Moraes ordered social media platforms including Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram to suspend accounts accused of inciting or supporting attacks on Brazil’s democratic order last year, the Associated Press reported. The order followed last year’s storming of government buildings by ex-president Jair Bolsonaro’s supporters, in Brazil’s version of Jan. 6. Musk has challenged de Moraes’s authority, lifting restrictions on some X accounts in the country. In April, de Moraes added Musk to an ongoing investigation over the alleged dissemination of misinformation on social media and alleged obstruction, the AP reported.
Although Brazilian laws concerning speech are less permissive than those in the U.S., de Moraes has been criticized by some who say he is overstepping his bounds and stifling free speech.
The exchange between Musk and Brazil’s top court comes as other nations attempt to exert more control over social media content and by extension, tech executives. On Wednesday, the CEO of Telegram, Pavel Durov, was charged with multiple criminal counts in France for allegedly failing to curb illegal and illicit content on his messaging platform.
