X, formerly known as Twitter, said it expects to be blocked in Brazil after failing to meet a deadline to appoint new legal representatives for the company.
The social network closed its office in the country earlier this month and said its representative had been threatened with arrest if she did not comply with what it described as “censorship”.
The months-long controversy began when Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered the suspension of dozens of X accounts for allegedly spreading misinformation in April.
X owner Elon Musk has threatened to reactivate the accounts and described Mr Moraes as a “tyrant” and “dictator”.
Judge Moraes gave X 24 hours to appoint new legal representation or face suspension, with a deadline of just after 20:00 local time (23:00 GMT) on Thursday.
The ban is expected to take effect in about 12 hours.
But in a post from one of its official accounts shortly after the deadline expired.X made it clear that he would not comply with that order.
“We hope Judge Alexandre de Moraes will soon order X to be shut down in Brazil – simply because we will not comply with his illegal censorship of political opponents,” the post said.
“The fundamental issue at stake here is that Judge de Moraes is asking us to break Brazil’s own laws. We’re not going to do that.”
X said it would not “secretly comply with unlawful orders,” adding that it would publish the judge’s orders in the coming days “in the interest of transparency.”
Judge Moraes ordered that the X accounts accused of spreading disinformation — many of them supporters of right-wing former president Jair Bolsonaro — be blocked while they are investigated. He said the company’s legal representatives would be held responsible if any of the accounts were reactivated.
Judge Moraes rose to prominence after his decision to restrict social media platforms in the country.
He is also investigating Mr Bolsonaro and his supporters for their role in the failed coup on January 8 last year.
