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X,
owned by billionaire Elon Musk, claims Moraes secretly
threatened one of the company's legal representatives in the
South American country with arrest if it did not comply with
legal orders to take down some content from its platform.
The social media giant published pictures of a document
allegedly signed by Moraes which says a daily fine of 20,000
reais ($3,653) and an arrest decree would be imposed against X
representative Rachel Nova Conceicao if the platform did not
fully comply to Moraes' orders.
"To protect the safety of our staff, we have made the decision
to close our operation in Brazil, effective immediately," X
said.
Brazil's Supreme Court, where Moraes has a seat, told Reuters it
would not speak on the matter and would not confirm nor deny the
authenticity of the document shared by X.
The X service remains available to the people of Brazil, the
platform said on Saturday.
Earlier this year, Moraes ordered X to block certain accounts,
as he investigates so-called "digital militias" that have been
accused of spreading fake news and hate messages during the
government of far-right former President Jair Bolsonaro.
Moraes opened an inquiry earlier this year into the billionaire
after Musk said he would reactivate accounts on X that the judge
had ordered blocked. Musk has called the Moraes' decisions
regarding X "unconstitutional."
After Musk's challenges, X representatives reversed course and
told Brazil's Supreme Court that the social media giant would
comply with the legal rulings.
Lawyers representing X in Brazil in April told the Supreme Court
that "operational faults" have allowed users who were ordered
blocked to stay active on the social media platform, after
Moraes had asked X to explain why it allegedly had not fully
complied with his decisions.
Musk, in posts on X on Saturday, called Moraes an "utter
disgrace to justice" and said the company could not have agreed
to the judge's "secret censorship and private information
handover demands."
(Reporting by Luana Maria Benedito; Editing by Paul Simao)
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