In a decisive ruling, Brazil’s Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes has mandated a hefty fine of 8.1 million Brazilian reais ($1.4 million) against a X social media platform for its failure to comply with judicial directives.
Justice Alexandre de Moraes of Brazil’s Supreme Court issued a ruling on Wednesday, which was made public on Thursday, demanding X (formerly Twitter) pay the fine for its non-compliance. The core issue stemmed from the platform’s refusal to provide registration data for an account linked to Allan dos Santos, an ally of former President Jair Bolsonaro, accused of disseminating false information.
Back in July 2024, the justice had ordered both X and Meta to block and ban the account in question and hand over the requisite data. Although the platforms managed to block the account, it claimed that it couldn’t furnish the requested information, arguing that the operators did not collect such data and asserting that the user had “no technical connection point with Brazil.”
Justice de Moraes dismissed this argument and imposed a daily fine of 100,000 Brazilian reais ($17,500) in early August for continued non-compliance. By October, these penalties had amassed to 8.1 million Brazilian reais. The company appealed this decision but eventually informed the court of its intention to settle the fine.
Justice de Moraes’s ruling emphasized immediate payment of the total sum. However, the decision did not clarify whether X eventually provided the requested registration data.
This is not the first time X has faced challenges in Brazil. Last year, it experienced a nationwide shutdown after removing its remaining Brazilian staff, prompted by what it described as threats from de Moraes towards its legal representative in the country. Brazilian law mandates that foreign enterprises maintain a local legal representative to receive court notifications and ensure prompt compliance with court actions, such as account takedowns.
X subsequently resumed operations after complying with court orders to block specific accounts, appoint a formal legal representative, and pay fines previously imposed for non-compliance. The ongoing clash between the social media platform’s owner and Justice de Moraes over issues of free speech, misinformation, and right-wing accounts has drawn significant attention. Despite the platform owner branding de Moraes as an adversary of free speech, the judge’s rulings have been consistently upheld by his peers, underscoring the judiciary’s commitment to holding social media platforms accountable.
