Refusal to comply with local laws suggests social media company ‘considered itself above the rule of law’, says judge

Members of Brazil’s supreme court have unanimously voted to uphold the ban on X, after Elon Musk’s refusal to comply with local laws led to the social network being blocked in one of its biggest markets.

On Monday, five of the court’s justices were asked to consider Friday’s decision to temporarily banish X from Brazil, where the platform has more than 21 million users. By lunchtime all five had voted in favour of the ban.

Casting his vote in favour of X’s continued suspension, Flávio Dino said the company’s decision to “deliberately” ignore a court order to name a legal representative in Brazil suggested it “considered itself above the rule of law”.

  • Sundial@lemm.eeEnglish
    311·
    13 days ago

    Even if it somehow gets reinstated, the damage is done. Majority have already left for alternatives.

    • Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.worldEnglish
      18·
      12 days ago

      The funny thing is, the right in America are trying to push laws that make the company responisible for user posted content.

      If that happens, and I go to twitter and post something illegal, I’M still liable for breaking the laws, but now so is twitter.

      So eventually, if he tries to be above the law in America, SOMEBODY is going to post child porn. Then, by their own laws, twitter is liable for that illegal action.

      This is going to lead to one of two things. Either

      1. Twitter shuts down

      Or

      1. Musk goes to jail.

      Aw hell…who am I kidding? It’s going to be “Well, he’s one of us. It’s a big club, and you ain’t in it”.

      He’ll pay a 2 million dollar fine, which is peanuts to him, and this shitty world will keep on going.

    • Virkkunen@fedia.io
      13·
      12 days ago

      They’re Brazilians mate, even if the ban gets lifted in 10 years and xitter is somehow around, Brazilians will immediately flock back to it. They have unconditional love for their social media

    • Monomate@lemm.eeEnglish
      625·
      12 days ago

      Are we seeing the same thing? I’ve never seen as much activity from Brazilian users on X as now.

      I guess all this block did was teach the Brazilian population how to use VPNs. And most are just ignoring the threat of a US$ 8.900,00 daily fine from the dictator because, by its very nature, VPNs keep them anonymous. X is on bad terms with the dictator, so it will not expose anyone’s IP addresses even if requested by him. None of the major VPN companies are based in Brazil, and it would be hard to ask them for IP addresses too.

      Even some major news outlets are still posting on X, saying that they’re posting through “international staff members.” Some politicians and notable personalities are starting to use the same excuse: “someone out of the country is posting for me.” This block is looking pretty ineffective, and it’s serving as an educational incentive for people to start using VPNs. If any more social media platforms are also blocked, people are already well prepared to circumvent the blocks.

      So, what has the dictator gained from this temper tantrum? He forced X out of the country, leaving no local offices to receive his orders, even the reasonable ones like those related to normal (non-political persecution) crimes. And he strengthened the protests that were already scheduled for September 7th (Brazil Independence Day), which will turn into an event mainly asking for his impeachment.

      • Virkkunen@fedia.io
        91·
        12 days ago

        Tell me you support Bolsonaro and Musk without telling me you support them

        • Monomate@lemm.eeEnglish
          211·
          12 days ago

          Actually, Bolsonaro is a fraud. He only acts in the self-interest of himself and his immediate family members. As he’s being threatened by the dictator, with some speculation that he could be arrested at any time, he’s keeping silent during this whole X blocking incident so he doesn’t suffer retaliation from the dictator.

          As for Musk, I know that, like every businessman, he has his financial interests. I surely would if I were one, and I would not blame anyone for doing the same, as nobody gets rich spending money unwisely. However, I can recognize that his passion for free speech is genuine; otherwise, he wouldn’t have bought Twitter for $44 billion. Under the most reasonable analysis, this was a bad deal in terms of return on investment. Maybe it’ll bear fruit in the long term, but it’s a big, nebulous maybe. So as he decided to buy it anyway, he surely did so on principle, not for money.