Wednesday, October 9

Brazil has lifted their nationwide ban on social media platform X after the company agreed to block certain accounts and pay a large fine.

Brazil's Supreme Court, led by Alexandre de Moraes, has been working to stop disinformation online recently, one part of which included the ordered suspension of multiple X accounts in April. However, X's Executive Chairman, Elon Musk, reactivated them soon after, citing 'free speech' and claiming that the judge was shutting the accounts down for 'political purposes.'

From the political side of things, the issue was related to Brazil's 2022 presidential election, which former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro claims was skewed. Musk accused Moraes of being anti-democratic and left-wing, as the accounts that were forced to close were related to Bolsonaro, a right-wing leader, and his attempted coup on the government back on January 8.

As a response, the Brazilian government opened up an investigation onto Musk's actions, with de Moraes leading the case. Then, X immediately shut down all operations in Brazil and withdrew all employees from the country. As another violation, Moraes was forced to take more severe action against the company-- Brazilian law requires for a company to have a legal office in the country. He informed X that if they did not choose a new legal representative within 24 hours, Brazilian authorities would arrest the company's current Brazilian legal representative and block access to the social media network.

Soon after, Moraes established that his deadline had not been met, and he announced a complete suspension of X's services in Brazil until they comply with the court's orders and pay the required fines. Read more on the initial banning of X in Brazil here.

Now, X has decided to follow their orders, as Brazilians make up a large amount of X users-- around 22 million Brazilians are consistent users of the social media app. After the ban, many of them turned to other sites, such as BlueSky, or began using a virtual private network (VPN) to access the app. However, back in mid-September, X began changing course, and have recently confirmed that they have paid a $5.1 million fine, appointed a new legal representative, and blocked the requested accounts, allowing them to return to the South American country.

The company later made a post on their Global Government Affairs account, stating, “X is proud to return to Brazil. Giving tens of millions of Brazilians access to our indispensable platform was paramount throughout this entire process. We will continue to defend freedom of speech, within the boundaries of the law, everywhere we operate.”

Fact of the Day (Reader's Digest): Baby kangaroos are as small as lima beans when they are born. As juveniles, they become joeys, and stay in the pouches of their marsupial mothers as they roam the open areas of Australia.

Quote of the Day (Gracious Quotes): In wisdom gathered over time I have found that every experience is a form of exploration. (Ansel Adams)

Word of the Day (Merriam-Webster): Exorbitant (adj)- Exorbitant describes something that goes far beyond what is fair, reasonable, or expected (as by being too high, too expensive, etc.).

In a Sentence: The cost of our stay was so exorbitant you would have thought that we had bought the hotel and not just spent a few nights there.