BUONES AIRES, Sept 20 — A court in Brazil on Thursday fined tech billionaire Elon Musk’s companies after some users in the country were able to briefly access the social media platform X, the German news agency (dpa) reported.
The platform is blocked in Brazil on the order of Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who accused the platform of taking insufficient action against the spread of hate speech and fake news.
Some users were able to gain access to X on Wednesday, leading the Supreme Federal Court to fine X and satellite Internet provider Starlink, both owned by Musk, 5 million reais (US$920,000) for each day the platform breaks the ban.
An automatic update on phone applications allowed X to bypass the ban, the Brazilian Association of Internet and Telecommunications Providers said.
The update moved X servers to Cloudflare, enabling constantly changing IP addresses and preventing access from being blocked.
Earlier this month, de Moraes demanded that X block the accounts of right-wing activists who spread conspiracy theories and false information.
Musk described the demand as unlawful and the social media giant did not comply with the request.
Musk then had the tech company’s office in Brazil closed in mid-August on the grounds that he feared the company’s representative in the country would be arrested.
According to media reports, X has around 20 million users in Brazil.
— Bernama
