SAN FRANCISCO  – Billionaire Elon Musk said he will lift restrictions imposed on some X accounts in Brazil, even if the move leads to the closing of the social media platform in the country. 

X, formerly known as Twitter, said in a post late on April 6 that court decisions “forced” the site to block “certain popular accounts” in Brazil, without specifying the reasons or which posts allegedly violated the law.

Shortly after, Mr Musk wrote on the platform that he would defy the court’s ruling.

“We are lifting all restrictions. This judge has applied massive fines, threatened to arrest our employees and cut off access to X in Brazil,” Mr Musk said in a social media post. He added that the move would probably cause X to lose all its revenue in the country and shut its office there.  

While neither X nor Mr Musk identified the judge that issued the ruling, the site’s billionaire owner was responding to another post that accused Brazil’s Supreme Court head Alexandre de Moraes of cracking down on free speech.

Mr de Moraes did not reply to requests for comment late on April 6. 

The spat comes as courts widen a fight against so-called fake news and hate speech online. In a recent decision, the country’s Superior Electoral Court approved a resolution requiring social media networks to limit the spread of fake news during elections.

In 2023, the federal court ordered a temporary ban on Telegram in Brazil after the messaging service refused to share with the country’s Federal Police information about neo-Nazi groups. At the time, Telegram would have been fined one million reais (S$266,000) per day until it complied with the court order.

Mr Musk previously clashed with Brazilian officials over the blocking of content on his platform. In 2023, X initially resisted over 500 requests from Brazil’s Justice Ministry to take down posts and profiles that were hosting content suspected of inciting violence in schools. The San Francisco-based company later removed some of the material cited by the Justice Ministry.

The site has, in the past, acceded to requests to restrict access to some content in other countries, including Turkey and India.

Mr Musk wrote in a separate post that the “aggressive censorship appears to violate the law and will of the people of Brazil”.  

“We believe that such orders are not in accordance with the Marco Civil da Internet or the Brazilian Federal Constitution, and we challenge the orders legally where possible,” according to a post on X’s Global Government Affairs account. BLOOMBERG