Who Is Alexandre de Moraes And Why Did He Ban Twitter In Brazil? The Brazil X Ban Controversy Explained

Stan Twitter was hit with a major loss as Brazil banned X / Twitter this week after its owner Elon Musk ignored Supreme Court orders.

The social network went dark for more than 21 million Brazilian users, the result of an ongoing feud and legal battle between the X owner and Alexandre de Moraes, a Brazilian Supreme Court justice, over the company's accountability for misinformation, free speech and far-right accounts on X.

Just before this debacle, Brazilians had just spawned the Brazilian Miku trend on X, and now several meme pages, parody accounts and Stans are saying farewell to the world until Musk and de Moraes settle on an agreement to enable the platform to work legally in Brazil.

X remained accessible in Brazil till late Friday, though some Brazilians posted on other social media platforms that their access to X was already blocked.

Here's why X was shut down In Brazil and how the internet reacted to the ongoing controversy.

Why X Was Banned From Brazil?

Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered Brazil’s telecom agency to block access to X, formerly Twitter, nationwide after Elon Musk decided to take out the company's legal representative in the country in early August 2024, which Brazil's laws demand all international companies must have a legal representative in the country

The X Global Affairs account shared a statement alleging "censorship orders" from de Moraes and that his actions "are incompatible with democratic government."

The feud between the Brazilian judge and Elon Musk's X escalated on August 28th, as de Moraes had given Musk a deadline of 24 hours to appoint a legal representative for the platform in Brazil, which ended on Thursday night. YouTuber @TLDRdaily posted a video on August 29th, 2024, explaining de Moraes' ultimatum against X as the situation unfolded.

On late August 30th, X then started to go dark across Brazil, making it largely inaccessible on both the web and through mobile apps after the billionaire refused to name a legal representative to the country. Alexandre's decision also issued a fine of R$50,000 (approximately $9,000 USD) for those who try to access X in Brazil via common privacy software called a virtual private network, or VPN.

Who Is Alexandre De Moraes And Why Is He Feuding With Elon Musk?

Known in Brazil by his nickname, "Xandao," Alexandre Moraes, 55, has been a prominent figure in the country who also heads the Superior Electoral Tribunal, or TSE, and is also hated by the far-right online community, which accuses him of censorship and abuse of power.

His high-stakes standoff with Elon Musk has been going on since early April 2024 after de Moraes added Musk to an investigation targeting groups that allegedly posed a threat to the Brazilian democracy. Ever since the feud started, Musk has been attacking the Brazilian judge with AI images depicting de Moraes in jail and calling him "Alexandre de Voldemort," comparing him to the Harry Potter villain Lord Voldemort.

How Did The Internet React To X's Ban In Brazil?

X / Twitter users from all over the world are mourning the loss of Brazilian content creators, meme accounts and stan accounts owned by Brazilians, who some allege "carried" part of the humor on the platform. For example, on August 30th, 2024, X user @requestsforash posted a reaction video to represent their shock of "watching half the TL revealing themselves as brazilian before being wiped out."

Other netizens, like X user @not_weav, posted about the Brazilian Miku trend as the final gift Brazilians gave to the platform, writing, "The country gives you a cute art trend… and you ban it."

As of the writing of this article on August 31st, 2024, X is still banned in Brazil with no major updates as of yet.

For the full history of Brazil X / Twitter Ban Controversy, be sure to check out Know Your Meme's encyclopedia entry for more information.