X may face $1M daily fines for defying Brazil's order
Brazil's Supreme Court has issued a stern warning to Elon Musk's social media platform X and his satellite company Starlink, threatening them with substantial daily fines. The court order, issued by Judge Alexandre de Moraes, instructs regulators to reinstate the ban on X. Non-compliance could result in penalties nearing $1 million per day for both companies. This development follows a brief period when X was accessible again in Brazil.
Temporary service restoration in Brazil
X became accessible to many Brazilian users a day ago, a change the company described as "an inadvertent and temporary service restoration." This was due to a switch in network providers. Following Brazil's ban last month, X had reportedly started using Cloudflare's servers in the region. This move complicated the task for Brazilian ISPs to enforce the block.
X's network provider switch and future plans
X confirmed on Wednesday that it had switched network providers to "provide service to Latin America." The company also stated that it anticipated its service in Brazil would be offline again soon. This statement indicates a potential end to the brief period of accessibility experienced by Brazilian users.
Brazil's order on non-compliance penalties
Judge Moraes has stated that X could face a daily fine of approximately $921,000 starting from September 19, for each day it fails to comply with the ban. Starlink also faces potential financial repercussions in this dispute. The company's Brazilian bank accounts were previously frozen and now it faces "joint liability" if X fails to pay the fines as per the court order.
