Court orders X to pay additional $1.5m fine to resume operations in Brazil

Social media giant, X (formerly Twitter), has been forced to shell out an additional sum of $1.5 million fine to resume operations in Brazil.

The Brazilian Supreme Court shut down X nationwide because its owner would not designate a local representative for the site or abide by the court’s orders to suspend specific accounts.

The ban forced supporters of former Brazilian President, Jair Bolsonaro to organise rallies protesting against judge Alexandre de Moraes, who ordered the suspension of X as many users are unable to engage in the platform and even just see their feeds.

READ ALSO: EU warns Elon Musk to curb harmful content on X ahead of Trump interview

However, X, which has 21 million active users in Brazil, could soon resume service in the country if it’s willing to pay an additional fine.

The social network might now “immediately return to its activities in national territory” provided it pays a punishment of 10 million reais, or about $1.9 million, the nation’s Supreme Court Judge, Alexandre de Moraes, said in a ruling.

In addition, X had previously been penalized 18.3 million reais ($3.4 million).

To pay the punishment, Brazil blocked X and its owner Elon Musk’s satellite internet business Starlink’s accounts.

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now