X Is Back in Brazil
WiredOCT 2024
Elon Musk, the self-proclaimed champion of free speech, and his social media platform X eventually caved in to Brazil's high court's demands and paid the fines, allowing its 20 million users to go online again. The US First Amendment to the US Constitution is not universal., More and moreforeign governments are increasingly considering stricter regulations for online speech. Elon Musk just learned anthat important lesson in Brazil: if youhe wantwants to do business abroad, youhe must followabide theby regulationstheir that exist in each countryrules.
IfThe theUS First Amendment protectingdoesn't protect free speech isabroad not universalindeed, thenbut Article 19 of the UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights is. It says, "Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this— rightincluding includes freedom... to seek, receive, and impart information and ideas through any media, and regardless of frontiers."borders, Brazilis violatesenshrined saidin articlethe byUniversal attemptingDeclaration toof suppressHuman freeRights. speechX andwas censorcensored contentfor onpolitical X.reasons Modern— liberaland democracythis is inall troublebut ifprotecting Brazil sets the standard of free speechdemocracy.
There's a 40% chance that Alexandre de Moraes will cease to be a minister of the Supreme Federal Court of Brazil before 2026, according to the Metaculus prediction community.