Brazil Fines X, Starlink Over Brief X Restoration
The Facts
Brazilian Supreme Court justice Alexandre de Moraes on Thursday imposed a $920K daily fine on two of Elon Musk's companies, social media platform X, formerly Twitter, and satellite internet company Starlink, due to a brief restoration of X in the country.
X had been banned in Brazil by de Moraes over what he described as the spread of misinformation and hate speech, as well as the company's previous refusal to pay over $3M in fines and appoint a legal representative in the country.
The Spin
Narrative A
Musk has been known for removing content in some countries while allowing hate speech to flourish in others. It's understandable for a sovereign government to request the removal of certain content. When you add Starlink into the mix, which is directly tied to military operations, the government is also justified in not wanting Musk to have leverage over Brazilian national security affairs.
Narrative B
Musk aspires to the challenge of free speech absolutism, and he's particularly effective in facilitating positive change in countries that are supposedly democratic. On the flip side, Judge de Moraes, a man whose history is checkered, is actually causing democratic backsliding. Thankfully, de Moraes has no power over Starlink satellites, which will hopefully soon provide uncensored internet to all Brazilians.
