Dubai Telegraph - Brazil's shutdown of X fans debate over free speech curbs

EUR -
AED 3.879454
AFN 71.766172
ALL 98.446538
AMD 408.727287
ANG 1.903424
AOA 962.189651
ARS 1055.136057
AUD 1.630409
AWG 1.901181
AZN 1.789518
BAM 1.961728
BBD 2.132343
BDT 126.201335
BGN 1.9588
BHD 0.398064
BIF 3118.741826
BMD 1.056211
BND 1.421281
BOB 7.297188
BRL 6.105428
BSD 1.056091
BTN 89.136639
BWP 14.496666
BYN 3.456143
BYR 20701.745225
BZD 2.128773
CAD 1.480962
CDF 3026.046048
CHF 0.937129
CLF 0.037557
CLP 1036.439301
CNY 7.636301
CNH 7.645963
COP 4727.78219
CRC 539.429963
CUC 1.056211
CUP 27.989605
CVE 110.599191
CZK 25.276513
DJF 188.054673
DKK 7.458575
DOP 63.873001
DZD 141.196108
EGP 52.131744
ERN 15.843172
ETB 130.910644
FJD 2.402194
FKP 0.833686
GBP 0.831777
GEL 2.883565
GGP 0.833686
GHS 16.976135
GIP 0.833686
GMD 74.991397
GNF 9102.504493
GTQ 8.155953
GYD 220.943428
HKD 8.217753
HNL 26.666577
HRK 7.53423
HTG 138.767993
HUF 406.15981
IDR 16809.289017
ILS 3.948874
IMP 0.833686
INR 89.180057
IQD 1383.48038
IRR 44458.579959
ISK 146.095547
JEP 0.833686
JMD 167.185173
JOD 0.748958
JPY 164.521312
KES 136.515348
KGS 91.231852
KHR 4289.881246
KMF 492.563931
KPW 950.589942
KRW 1479.650439
KWD 0.32489
KYD 0.880043
KZT 523.582077
LAK 23200.543009
LBP 94573.658376
LKR 308.542304
LRD 194.845062
LSL 19.330811
LTL 3.118718
LVL 0.638891
LYD 5.158587
MAD 10.547972
MDL 19.130443
MGA 4948.044906
MKD 61.515768
MMK 3430.533723
MNT 3589.00659
MOP 8.466021
MRU 41.984863
MUR 49.842827
MVR 16.318166
MWK 1831.198548
MXN 21.74186
MYR 4.732353
MZN 67.489547
NAD 19.330811
NGN 1774.287045
NIO 38.86892
NOK 11.740652
NPR 142.624361
NZD 1.797365
OMR 0.406676
PAB 1.056111
PEN 4.024312
PGK 4.184644
PHP 62.056118
PKR 293.325825
PLN 4.325535
PYG 8247.922253
QAR 3.849933
RON 4.976236
RSD 117.044056
RUB 105.092045
RWF 1449.953783
SAR 3.967208
SBD 8.854807
SCR 14.362927
SDG 635.317643
SEK 11.596225
SGD 1.417832
SHP 0.833686
SLE 24.097471
SLL 22148.231865
SOS 603.523631
SRD 37.343937
STD 21861.445383
SVC 9.240923
SYP 2653.762908
SZL 19.339168
THB 36.814269
TJS 11.257603
TMT 3.707302
TND 3.335479
TOP 2.473748
TRY 36.27907
TTD 7.170667
TWD 34.391332
TZS 2809.522312
UAH 43.536853
UGX 3875.711004
USD 1.056211
UYU 44.865568
UZS 13525.870313
VES 47.523829
VND 26827.771874
VUV 125.395551
WST 2.94851
XAF 657.932577
XAG 0.034763
XAU 0.000412
XCD 2.854464
XDR 0.795596
XOF 657.976316
XPF 119.331742
YER 263.843317
ZAR 19.268254
ZMK 9507.174232
ZMW 28.963064
ZWL 340.099669
  • RBGPF

    -0.9400

    59.25

    -1.59%

  • SCS

    -0.0260

    13.344

    -0.19%

  • BTI

    0.1800

    35.6

    +0.51%

  • CMSD

    0.0250

    24.755

    +0.1%

  • NGG

    0.4400

    62.56

    +0.7%

  • BCC

    -1.6100

    140.94

    -1.14%

  • GSK

    0.1110

    35.221

    +0.32%

  • RIO

    -0.2050

    60.415

    -0.34%

  • CMSC

    0.0150

    24.625

    +0.06%

  • RYCEF

    -0.1500

    6.96

    -2.16%

  • RELX

    0.1950

    46.315

    +0.42%

  • AZN

    0.5950

    65.885

    +0.9%

  • BCE

    0.1150

    27.325

    +0.42%

  • JRI

    0.0100

    13.25

    +0.08%

  • VOD

    0.0300

    8.78

    +0.34%

  • BP

    0.3150

    28.885

    +1.09%

Brazil's shutdown of X fans debate over free speech curbs
Brazil's shutdown of X fans debate over free speech curbs / Photo: NELSON ALMEIDA - AFP

Brazil's shutdown of X fans debate over free speech curbs

Is Brazil's shutdown of Elon Musk's X a drastic but necessary move in the global fight against disinformation, or pure censorship?

Text size:

Supreme Court judge Alexandre de Moraes's decision to block the social media platform formerly known as Twitter has reignited a debate about where to draw the line between upholding free expression and combatting hate speech.

The shutdown affected 22 million X users in Brazil, many of whom have begun migrating to smaller platforms such as Bluesky and Threads to avoid hefty fines for using Musk's network.

Moraes blocked X in its biggest Latin American market after Musk refused to comply with orders to remove dozens of right-wing accounts and then failing to name a legal representative, as required under Brazilian law.

The showdown between the Brazilian and the US billionaire, who has been accused of turning X into a megaphone for right-wing conspiracy theories, comes amid growing scrutiny in the West of X and other social media titans.

In France, the Russian-born founder of the controversial Telegram app, Pavel Durov, was arrested last month and charged with failing to curb extremist and illegal content on his network, which has 900 million users.

TikTok, meanwhile, is in the crosshairs of the US Federal Trade Commission, which accuses it of violating child privacy laws.

But it is arguably Musk, a self-described "free speech absolutist" who has been using his platform to whip up support for right-wingers from Brazil to Britain, who is drawing the most fire.

The European Union is considering imposing a hefty fine on X and even a shutdown for possible violations of tough new social media regulations.

"Brazil has clearly joined the global debate on social media and free speech," Carl Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond in the United States, told AFP.

The shutdown of X in Brazil "reflects similar concerns about how best to regulate social media... in the US, many other democracies, and the EU," he said.

- 'Global problem' -

Afonso de Albuquerque, professor of communications at Rio's Federal Fluminense University, cast the Moraes-Musk dust-up as part of a wider battle for "the sovereignty of nations" against "powerful multi-millionaires."

"Elon Musk is a global problem", he told AFP.

The world's richest man, according to Forbes magazine, "bought Twitter and turned it into a political project, which has to do with to his involvement in far-right networks," Albuquerque asserted.

Musk has been a vociferous campaigner for the return of former US president Donald Trump to the White House.

He has also been vocal in his support for far-right Brazilian ex-president Jair Bolsonaro, whose supporters staged a failed US-style attack on government buildings in 2023 following his unsuccessful re-election bid.

- Brazil's 'democracy killer' -

Moraes's action against X has been applauded by the Brazilian left, including President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

"Who does (Musk) think he is?" Lula asked, arguing that democracy was "not the right to lie, spread hate or violate the will of the people."

Elvino Bohn Gass, an MP from Lula's Workers' Party, accused Musk of trying to "digitally colonize" Brazil.

But for Bolsonaro's supporters, the shutdown has become a cause celebre.

Thousands demonstrated in Sao Paulo on Saturday in defense of "democracy" and "liberty" against what they called Moraes's "censorship."

Some have disregarded the X ban, including Bolsonaro's son Eduardo, an MP, who accuses Moraes of "assassinating democracy."

- 'Political' move? -

Polls show Brazilians divided on the justification for the shutdown of X, with an AtlasIntel poll of over 1,600 people showing that 56.5 see it as a "political" move by Moraes.

Just over 54 percent declared it "weakens democracy," despite nearly half -- 49.7 percent -- expressing support for Moraes.

Beyond Brazil, the standoff is closely watched by both sides in what Britain's The Economist magazine called a "culture war battleground."

The Economist criticized the blocking of X as part of a growing trend to try to "censor and punish speech that should be within the law."

"Only with the freedom to be wrong can societies advance slowly towards what is right," the magazine argued.

A.El-Sewedy--DT