Elon Musk, chief executive officer of Tesla Inc., at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC, U.S., on Wednesday, July 24, 2024.
Samuel Corum | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Supreme Court of Brazil announced Friday that it ordered banks to transfer money from Starlink and X accounts to pay fines imposed by a court on Elon Musk’s social network.
The court’s top judge, Alexandre de Moraes, and a panel of five other judges found that X had repeatedly violated Brazilian law by refusing to appoint legal representation in the country and by refusing to remove content or records from its platform that the court determined were harmful to democratic institutions in Brazil.
The court transferred nearly 18.4 million Brazilian reals, or about $3.3 million, from the accounts. Musk acquired X, then known as Twitter, in 2022. Starlink is a satellite internet service operated by SpaceX.
After the transfer, the court ordered the unfreezing of X and Starlink’s frozen bank accounts and assets, saying there was no longer a need to hold them.
The court suspended X in late August and the suspension remains in effect.
Musk and his companies said they considered de Moraes’ actions “unlawful” and that the court order was issued without due process. X and SpaceX did not immediately respond to requests for comment Friday.
Brazilian UOL news agency Earlier this month, reports said some of the accounts de Moraes asked Musk to suspend at X belonged to users who allegedly threatened federal police officers involved in an investigation into former right-wing Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro.
Bolsonaro is accused of inciting the January 8 riots in Brazil and trying to stage a coup there.
Musk is a supporter of Bolsonaro, in part because the former Brazilian president allowed his Starlink business to operate in the country.
Musk has been ramping up his insults and calls for de Moraes’ impeachment since April. September 5His longtime SpaceX associate, COO Gwynne Shotwell, has also criticized Brazil’s Supreme Court online.
She wrote, “@Alexandre, please stop harassing Starlink and let us continue serving the Brazilian people.”
Supporters of de Moraes and the STF see the injunction against X Corp. as an assertion of Brazilian sovereignty.
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