A Brazilian Supreme Court justice has issued a deadline for social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, to clarify why it allegedly failed to fully adhere to previous court rulings mandating the blocking of specific accounts.
This action comes as part of an investigation initiated earlier by Justice Alexandre de Moraes into Elon Musk, the platform’s owner, following Musk’s announcement of plans to reactivate accounts on X that Moraes had ordered to be blocked.
In a public decision made on Saturday, Justice Moraes set a five-day deadline starting from Monday for X to provide explanations. This move follows Musk’s criticism of Moraes’ decisions as “unconstitutional.”
A report from Brazil’s federal police disclosed that accounts on X, which local courts had instructed to be blocked, were still active on the platform as of early April.
This contradicted an earlier statement by the company. The report highlighted that these accounts were still gaining new local followers and sharing links for live-streaming videos.
In response, Moraes called upon X representatives to address the discrepancies outlined in the police report.
Moraes is currently investigating “digital militias” accused of disseminating fake news and hate speech during the tenure of former President Jair Bolsonaro. He leads an inquiry into an alleged coup plot involving Bolsonaro.
Legal representatives of X stated that the platform had blocked 226 accounts since 2022 following court orders, ensuring that these accounts remained restricted from live-streaming videos.
They assured compliance with court rulings issued by both the Supreme Court and Brazil’s top electoral court.
