Judge orders X, Starlink bank accounts unfrozen after $3.3m transfer pays off fines imposed on X for failures to comply with content orders
Brazil Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes said on Friday he would lift freezes previously imposed on bank accounts in the country belonging to SpaceX subsidiary Starlink and social media platform X following the transfer of 18.35 million reais ($3.3m, £2.5m) from the accounts into the national treasury.
The amount transferred equalled the amount X owed in fines due to previous court orders, meaning that the freeze was no longer required, a court order said.
The fines had been imposed amidst an ongoing dispute between Moraes and Elon Musk, who owns X as well as 40 percent of Starlink parent SpaceX, over accounts that Moraes had ordered suspended.
X was banned in Brazil this month on Moraes’ order after the company refused to name a legal representative in the country, a requirement for firms operating there.
Moraes left the ban in place, the Supreme Court said, as the issue of legal representation has not been resolved and content removals ordered by the judge have not been complied with.
X said late last month that it expected to be shut down as it “would not comply with (Moraes’) illegal orders to censor his political opponents”.
In April Moraes ordered X accounts to be shut down while they are investigated for spreading misinformation.
The probe is part of a broader investigation into an alleged coup attempt by supporters of former president Jair Bolsonaro following his election loss in 2022, and its support by online “digital militias”.
X owner Musk threatened to reactivate the accounts and has called Moraes a “tyrant” and a “dictator”.
On 17 August X closed its office in Brazil due after he said the court had made efforts to hold its legal representative in the country personally responsible for non-compliance with the account suspension orders.
Telegram and Meta’s WhatsApp have faced temporary bans in Brazil over refusal to cooperate with authorities.
Accounts frozen
On 18 August, a day after Musk announced the closure of X’s Brazil office, the Brazilian bank accounts for Musk’s satellite internet firm Starlink were frozen in an aim to enforce fines imposed on X.
In an email to its clients, Starlink said the move may affect its ability to receive payments but that if necessary it would provide service to Brazilian customers for free “until this matter is resolved”.
Starlink is the dominant internet provider in Brazil’s Amazon region.
Starlink initially said it would not follow the judge’s order to suspend access to X, but later said it would comply.
Musk has engaged in feuds with other regulators over content moderation efforts, calling Australia’s government “fascists” for a proposed law over social media misinformation.
