After Elon Musk announced he would defy a Brazilian court order that demanded the censorship of several accounts, Brazilian Supreme Federal Tribunal (STF ) Minister and “anti-fake news crusader” Alexandre de Moraes has opened an investigation into the social media platform X ( formerly Twitter ). Musk even called for de Moraes ‘ withdrawal.
De Moraes, who also leads Brazil’s Superior Electoral Tribunal ( TSE), gave an instruction to the Brazilian Federal police on Monday to look into Musk’s alleged “obstruction of justice” and “incitement to crime.”
Musk made the announcement on Saturday that X may ignore a court order issued by de Moraes, which required the social media platform to judge a number of Brazilian transactions in exchange for a daily fine of 100, 000 Brazilian reais ( roughly$ 19,770 ) for each account the software failed to judge. On Sunday, Musk , called , for de Moraes ‘ prosecution or departure.
The social media platform stated in a distinct article that the X Global Affairs profile was “prohibited from saying which addresses are impacted” and that it would contest the court’s rulings.
Court rulings in Brazil have forced X Corp. to censor some well-known records. We have disclosed this behavior to those records.  ,
The factors behind these blocking commands are unknown.  ,
Which content are alleged to offend the…
— Global Government Affairs ( @GlobalAffairs ) April 6, 2024
Following journalist Michael Shellenberger’s series of articles titled” Twitter Files – Brazil,” in which he listed behavior and demands made by de Moraes to judge Brazilian officials and followers of former president Jair Bolsonaro, Musk made the announcement. De Moreas also , demanded , exposure to X’s domestic user data, which may indicate a violation of the platform’s personal privacy policies.
De Moraes alleged that Musk had launched a “disinformation campaign” against the Brazilian top court by opening an investigation into him and his social media platform for alleged obstruction of justice and incitement to crime.
Additionally, according to the ruling from the inquiry, X social media “must abstain from disobeying” any court order, including the Brazilian Supreme Court’s order to censor the accounts it hosts.
Musk was included in a separate, ongoing investigation launched by the STF Minister on Sunday to look into alleged “anti-democratic digital militias” that distributed “fake news.”
De Moraes claimed that Musk’s inclusion in the the inquiry is due to the “intentional criminal exploitation” of the social network platform.
” In the present hypothesis, therefore, the use of illegal mechanisms by’ X’ is characterized, as well as the presence of strong indications of intent by the CEO of the social network ‘ X’, Elon Musk, in the criminal instrumentalization previously pointed out and investigated in several inquiries”, the ruling reportedly reads.
De Moraes, who describes himself as an “anti-fake news crusader,” has previously conducted” Operation Venire,” a comprehensive investigation into allegations that former president Bolsonaro allegedly falsified vaccination documents while visiting the United States. Bolsonaro’s home was  , raided , under Operation Venire in May 2023.
After Federal Police agents conducted a search and seizure warrant in Brasilia, Brazil, on May 3, 2023, Jair Bolsonaro speaks to the press outside his home before getting into a car. ( Eraldo Peres/AP )
The STF Minister is also infamous for enforcing censorship laws against Bolsonaro’s 2022 presidential campaign, which benefitted socialist president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who was largely defeated by Bolsonaro in the runoff election in October 2022.  ,
In recent years, the STF Minister has ordered multiple police raids against lawmakers, comedians, content creators, and regular Brazilian citizens who expressed support for Bolsonaro during his presidency ( 2019- 2022 ).  ,
Both Lula and de Moraes have demanded social media regulation in Brazil. In February, de Moraes claimed that there is a “need for general regulation by the National Congress in defense of democracy” and described the use of mass media as one of the “big problems” of modern democracies.
President of the Supreme Electoral Court, Minister Alexandre de Moraes, arrives to preside over the trial of former President Jair Bolsonaro at the Supreme Court in Brasilia, Brazil, Thursday, June 29, 2023. ( Gustavo Moreno/AP )
De Moraes ordered social media companies to deplatform and censor access to specific accounts in previous years, as well as former lawmakers who had been detained for content published on social media.  ,
Recently, de Moraes ordered a raid on the home of one of Bolsonaro’s sons, Carlos Bolsonaro, as part of a broader probe into illegal espionage activities allegedly committed during his father’s presidency. De Moraes , ordered Bolsonaro to hand over his passport in February, effectively trapping the former president in the country.
As a member of the TSE, Brazil’s top electoral authority, de Moraes is among the ministers that , banned Bolsonaro from running for office until 2030 for allegedly spreading “misinformation” about Brazil’s electoral voting machines in an official encounter with foreign ambassadors in July 2022.
