Brazil Will Fine Users $8,900 Per Day If They Access X with a VPN
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Brazil has recently decided to move forward with its plan to fine users caught accessing X, formerly Twitter, with a VPN in the country, despite the social network being banned.
As first reported by Reuters, Brazilian Supreme Federal Court (STF) Minister Alexandre de Moraes has authorized fines of R$50,000 (about $8,900) per day for people and companies using VPNs to access X. The outlet says that the fines will extend to any means of “technological subterfuge” that allows for X access, including via mobile apps and websites.
The Brazilian government is also apparently taking steps to make it more difficult for people to access X in general. According to The New York Times, de Moraes has asked the nation’s telecoms regulator, Anatel, to block all websites and mobile apps that provide access to X.
That’s not all. Reuters reports that de Moraes has ordered Apple and Google to remove X from the Brazilian App Store and Google Play Store by Saturday and to deactivate the app on Android devices in the country.
The orders come after de Moraes on Friday banned X — which he says has failed to comply with a previous court order — from operating in Brazil, including via VPN.
In a statement, X public policy head Lauren Culbertson called the move “unlawful” and said that X would challenge it in court.
“Today Judge Alexandre de Moraes of the Supreme Federal Court of Brazil ordered us to be shut down in Brazil,” Culbertson said, adding that X is prepared to challenge the order “through every level of the Brazilian judiciary and, if necessary, internationally.”
“We are absolutely not insisting that other countries have the same free speech laws as the United States,” she continued. “The fundamental issue at stake here is that Judge de Moraes demands we break Brazil’s own laws. We simply won’t do that. In the days to come, we will publish all of Judge de Moraes’ illegal demands and all related court filings in the interest of transparency.”
X was previously banned in Brazil earlier this year, but that ban was lifted after the company complied with a different court order. The current ban comes amid a dispute between X and Brazilian authorities over the platform’s handling of “fake news” and disinformation.
De Moraes has claimed that X has dragged its feet in removing “fake news” from its platform. X, for its part, has said that it’s followed Brazilian law and that de Moraes is targeting X for political reasons.
The X ban comes just days before a major political event in Brazil — a Supreme Court hearing on the legality of a probe into President Jair Bolsonaro. Bolsonaro, who’s faced off with de Moraes in the past, is a vocal critic of X as well.
In response to the X ban, Bolsonaro — who’s on X under a different name — reportedly told supporters that he’d “disappear” from the platform temporarily. And some X users in Brazil are apparently seeking out alternatives: The New York Times reports that usage of the X-like social networks Bluesky and Threads has surged in the country.
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