BRASILIA (Reuters) -A five-member panel of Brazil’s Supreme Court formed a majority on Monday to uphold Justice Alexandre de Moraes’ ruling to shut down social media platform X in the country for not complying with local norms.
Justices Flavio Dino and Cristiano Zanin sided with Moraes, forming a majority even if Justices Luiz Fux and Carmen Lucia were still to cast their votes.
X was taken down in Brazil, one of its largest markets, in the early hours of Saturday following a decision by Moraes, after the platform missed a court-imposed deadline to name a legal representative in Brazil as required by local law.
Moraes also ordered that those who continued to access X via VPNs be fined up to 50,000 reais ($8,865.56) per day.
Moraes and X owner Elon Musk have been locked in a months-long feud after the social media giant challenged legal orders to block accounts implicated in probes of alleged spreading of distorted news and hate in Brazil.
“It is not possible for a company to operate in the territory of a country and intend to impose its vision on which rules should be valid or applied,” Justice Dino said as he sided with Moraes.
“A party that intentionally fails to comply with court decisions appears to consider itself above the rule of law. And so it can turn into an outlaw.”
Zanin said non-compliance with Brazil Supreme Court decisions was “extremely serious,” arguing that “no one can develop their activities in Brazil without observing the laws and the constitution.”
($1 = 5.6398 reais)
(Reporting by Ricardo Brito; Editing by Gabriel Araujo and Andrea Ricci)
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