For some time now, South African billionaire owner of X, Elon Musk, has been waging war against a Brazilian Supreme Court judge, Alexandre de Moraes, supposedly to defend the Brazilian people’s right to “freedom of expression” on the popular social media platform.
So far, however, Musk’s dispute with the judge has done nothing to advance the freedom of speech of the Brazilian people. Instead, it has highlighted the hypocrisy of Musk’s absolutist discourse on free speech and exposed the immediate threat that tech leaders like him, who consider themselves above the law and the will of nations, pose to democracy.
The dispute between the self-proclaimed “free speech absolutist” and the Brazilian judge began in January 2023, after far-right supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro, encouraged by false allegations of electoral fraud spread on social media, stormed the National Congress and attempted to violently overthrow the democratically elected leftist President Lula da Silva.
Moraes, who was in charge of several investigations targeting Bolsonaro, his close associates and supporters, quickly issued orders for X to restrict or completely remove the accounts that helped fuel this shocking attack on Brazilian democracy.
Moraes’ requests were legal and in line with his responsibilities under the Brazilian constitution, but Musk portrayed them as attacks on free speech and democracy by an ideologically motivated judge empowered by Lula’s leftist government. Despite having accepted similar requests from right-wing authoritarian governments, such as India’s, without much protest in the past, Musk put himself in a confrontational position with the judiciary in Brazil, demonstrating his commitment not to free speech but to protecting the interests of the global far right, a group with which he has become strongly associated in recent years.
On April 3, American journalist Michael Shellenberger published a set of communications between various representatives of the judiciary and employees of X Brasil. The published communications, labeled “Twitter – Brazil archives,” revealed little more than the judiciary’s efforts to get harmful content and people removed from the platform. Even included in the archive was a data request from the Sao Paulo state judiciary related to an investigation into organized crime, which was inexplicably held up by Musk’s supporters as an example of the judiciary’s attacks on freedom of expression – and democracy – in the country.
Months later, Musk himself, via X’s Global Government Affairs account, shared confidential communications from Judge Morais, in which he requested the suspension of selected accounts. However, once again, Musk’s attempts to embarrass the Brazilian justice system failed, as the document did not reveal any irregularities, according to Brazilian law, on the part of the judiciary.
Following the posts, Musk continued to publicly attack Judge Moraes, calling him a “dictator” and even a “Brazilian Darth Vader” in public posts on X. “This judge has blatantly and repeatedly betrayed the constitution and people of Brazil. He should resign or be removed from office,” Musk tweeted. His provocations reached a climax on August 17, when he announced that he would close X’s office in Brazil (leading to mass layoffs) to “protect” his employees from Judge Moraes. He also refused to assign legal counsel to X in Brazil, leaving the company in flagrant violation of local laws.
In response, Judge Moraes ordered on August 31 the “immediate, complete and total suspension of X’s operations” in the country “until all court orders are complied with…, fines are duly paid and a new legal representative for the company is appointed.”
Since then, some 40 million Brazilians who use the platform have been unable to legally access their accounts.
While Musk’s attack on a judge for doing his job is unacceptable, and X’s ban is certainly an inconvenience to the people of Brazil, the issue at hand is about much more than a nation’s access to a particular social media platform or a personal dispute between a judge and a tech mogul. What we’re dealing with here is the latest and perhaps most egregious example of a multinational corporation – in this particular case controlled by someone who openly flirts with the far right – attempting to assert its dominance over a nation’s democratically elected government and laws under the guise of defending freedom and democracy.
Musk’s public refusal to comply with Brazilian law, his demand that a Supreme Court judge resign for issuing orders he does not approve of, and his suggestion that it should be he, not the judges of the country’s highest court, who should interpret Brazilian law and set the limits of free speech in the country, all demonstrate the danger that billionaire “tech bros” who control communications technology can pose to democracy.
This is not to say that Judge Moraes, or the Supreme Court more generally, is above criticism. There is already a heated debate in Brazil about the proportionality of the judge’s actions and whether some of his demands on social media platforms (especially the removal of accounts that do not appear to pose an immediate danger to anyone or are currently committing a crime) amount to “prior censorship.” Public debate about high-profile actions by the judiciary is natural, healthy, and much needed in a democracy.
But there is a big difference between criticism of a Supreme Court judge’s conduct coming from within the country he serves and an extensive campaign by a foreign billionaire – executed in coordination with far-right activists and politicians – aimed at discrediting his investigations into an attempted coup and other attacks on Brazilian democracy. The former is an important component of democracy, the latter a blatant attempt to undermine it.
The coordination between Musk and the Brazilian far-right actors targeted by Moraes’ investigations is no secret. On April 7, “libertarian” congressman Gilson Marques introduced a bill Jailing judges who suspend posts and profiles of social media accounts for political views. Later that month, Bolsonaro supporters hailed Musk as the new hero of their far-right movement at a rally in Rio de Janeiro attended by tens of thousands of people. Bolsonaro himself addressed the crowd and paid tribute to Musk, praising him as a man “who truly cares about the freedom of all of us.”
Bolsonaro’s supporters are trying to portray themselves as victims of left-wing political persecution and to present Musk as their potential savior. The truth, of course, is that Bolsonaro’s base neither cares nor respects democracy (as he made clear with his coup attempt last January) and is now encouraging a foreign billionaire to attack their country’s laws and institutions in order to save their leader and his movement from being finally held accountable.
On Wednesday, Musk attempted to circumvent Brazil’s X ban with an update to its communications network that allowed some users in the country to access the platform without a VPN, once again proving that it has no respect for Brazilian law. Only time will tell how the Supreme Court will respond to this latest escalation, and whether Musk’s X still has a future in Brazil as a mainstream platform. One thing we do know, however, is that what we’re witnessing in Brazil today isn’t just a dispute between a libertarian billionaire and an overzealous progressive judge over the limits of free speech. It’s a blatant attempt by a tech mogul with far-right ties to assert dominance over the independent judiciary of a sovereign democratic state. What we’re witnessing is an attack on Brazilian democracy, and it must be treated as such.
The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial stance of Al Jazeera.
