In U-turn, Musk’s X starts to comply with court orders in Brazil

Elon Musk’s X will now comply with court demands in Brazil so it can resume operations in the country and potentially end its feud with a powerful judge over free speech, far-right accounts and misinformation.

The Brazilian Supreme Court asked the social media platform Saturday to present documents validating its new legal representative in the country.

X was shut down in Brazil in late August after it did not comply with orders from the top court related to hate speech moderation on the platform.

But in recent days, X representatives have started to publicly vocalize intentions to address the court demands, even though the firm had previously said it would not meet them.

X lawyers said late Friday that the platform had named a legal representative in Brazil, addressing a key demand imposed by the court.

In a Saturday decision, Supreme Court judge Alexandre de Moraes gave X five days to provide commercial registries and other documents proving that X formally signed Rachel de Oliveira Conceicao as its Brazil legal representative.

Brazilian law requires foreign companies to have a legal representative in order to operate in the country. The representative would assume the legal responsibilities for the firm locally.

X had a legal representative in Brazil until mid-August, when it decided to close its offices and fire its local staff.

The move followed a months-long dispute between Musk and Moraes over the firm’s non-compliance with court orders demanding the platform to take action against the spread of hate speech, which the billionaire denounced as censorship.

Brazil’s top court also required X to block certain accounts investigated in a hate speech and misinformation probe, and to pay fines amounting to more than $3 million as conditions to lift the ban.

At first, X had warned it would not comply with the “illegal” orders, but its lawyers have now said the platform will pay the fines it owes and that it has also started to block the accounts in question.

It was not immediately clear which were the accounts X has been ordered to block, as the probe is confidential.

Despite the ban, X became accessible to many users in Brazil for a limited period of time Wednesday after an update to its communications network bypassed the court-ordered block.