(Daily360.com) The world’s richest man and owner of Twitter/X, Elon Musk, is taking on the Brazilian government and specifically the Supreme Court. The conflict came about after Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Morales ordered the Twitter platform to remove certain accounts otherwise face repercussions.
Many Brazilians view de Morales as a tyrannical figure who wields even more power than their president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (Lula). The accounts de Morales wanted removed were those of conservative voices who have questions about the country’s recent presidential election and other governmental overreach. Twitter was told by the Brazilian court that it needed to suspend all accounts from a list or else face steep daily fines. Additionally, the Brazilian court “forbid” Twitter from telling the suspended people the court was responsible but were instead instructed to lead the people to believe they broke Twitter’s terms of service.
Elon Musk did not take the threats well and named de Morales as the provocateur and referred to him as the “dictator of Brazil.” Musk said de Morales demanded that Twitter not only remove accounts of conservative Brazilians but also accounts of certain members of Brazilian parliament and journalists. Musk said de Morales’ demand that Twitter suspend and then lie about the reason was the “last straw” for him.
Musk also tweeted asking why the Brazilian parliament allows de Morales to have the power of a dictator. Musk then upped the ante by tweeting that Twitter/X will be publicly posting everything de Morales was demanding of the company. Musk included de Morales’ official Twitter handle, making sure he would see what was coming.
Musk’s strong stance received overwhelming praise from conservative people in Brazil. They believe they’ve been silenced and targeted for years and especially since the controversial election that saw Lula take power in January. The Brazilian Supreme Court has sought to arrest everyone from political opposition leaders to comedians who may have mocked government officials like de Morales. Journalists including Glenn Greenwald tweeted their support of Musk and multiple users were happily posting about de Morales being challenged.
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