The News
Elon Musk’s satellite internet provider Starlink said it won’t comply with a court order banning Musk’s social platform X in Brazil unless Starlink’s accounts in the country are unfrozen, Reuters reported.
Brazil’s Supreme Court on Monday upheld the ban on X, backing their colleague’s decision last week to ask all telecom providers to shut down the platform after the company refused to appoint a legal representative in the country.
The X ban also led to Starlink’s bank accounts being frozen in the country.
SIGNALS
The ban could be a boon for some of X’s rival platforms
The X ban has prompted many Brazilians to move over to Bluesky, a similar social media platform built on a decentralized network, the Verge reported: Bluesky said it had gained half a million users as of Friday. Another social network, Mastodon.social, also reported an increase in signups from Brazil. Part of the reason for the migration could be that Brazilians face fines of up to 50,000 Brazilian reais (about $8,000) if they access X through a VPN. The fine is far higher than the country’s average salary of about $530, Fortune noted.
Supreme Court faces backlash over the decision
Prominent right-wing commentators and legal experts criticized Brazil’s Supreme Court for the ban, particularly its threat to fine those who use VPNs to access X. Such a fine “represents a serious affront to the fundamental rights enshrined in the constitution,” the Brazilian Bar Association said in a note Saturday. However, one law professor told the Financial Times that fining those who use VPNs was logical, otherwise “you would have thousands of Elon Musk fanboys using them to brag that the ban on X is useless.”
Losing Brazil is a further hit for Musk’s businesses
Brazil is one of the largest markets for X and a huge growth opportunity for Starlink, PBS noted. The loss of advertising dollars from Brazil could further hit X’s struggling ad business, and compounds the reported loss of about 5 million users in Europe this year, according to Social Media Today. X’s US revenue was down 53% in Q2 this year compared to 2023, The New York Times reported. Meanwhile, Starlink is reportedly used by about a quarter million people in Brazil, and remote areas like the Amazon rainforest rely on it for wireless internet connection. The service is also used by academics, tourism operators, public officers, and Brazilian Army units deployed in the region, CNN reported.