The judge Alexander de Moraes ordered on Friday night to immediately suspend the operation of Platform X in the country, as stated in a court order.

On Wednesday Moraes, who has been involved in a “bra de fer” with the owner of X, Elon Musk, had given the platform 24 hours to appoint its legal representative in the country. This term expired on Thursday night. Soon after, X issued a statement saying it expected to be blocked “shortly” for refusing to comply with the “illegal orders” of Judge Moraes, who has been put in charge of a campaign to fight disinformation in Brazil. Platform X claimed that its aim is “to censor his political opponents”.

Platform X has more than 22 million users in Brazil, according to specialist website DataReportal.

Musk launched a verbal attack on Judge Moraes this week, calling him a “dictator” and accusing him of stifling free speech.

“Who does he think he is?” reacted on Friday the president of Brazil Luis Ipresident Lula da Silva, referring to the billionaire businessman. “Every citizen, from any part of the world, if they have investments in Brazil are subject to the Brazilian Constitution and laws,” he stressed, speaking to the MaisPB radio station.

On August 17, Musk announced that he was closing X’s offices in Brazil, but that the service would remain available to users, citing Moraes’ decisions. The judge launched an investigation into Musk last April, accusing him of reactivating user accounts blocked by Brazilian court orders. Platform X admitted that users managed to circumvent the bans. The judge had ordered the closure of accounts of people belonging to ultraconservative movements, claiming they were peddling false information.

In the past, other platforms such as Telegram and WhatsApp have been temporarily blocked in Brazil by court orders.

THE Elon Musk lashing out at Moraes in posts on X, calling him, among other things, “satanic dictator”, and “tyrant”.