Describing Brazil’s Supreme Court judge Alexandre de Moraes as a “fake judge”, technology billionaire Elon Musk said on Sunday that there was growing evidence that he deliberately interfered in the country’s election last year.
Musk made the remarks after de Moraes ordered the blocking of Musk’s social media platform X across the country after the company refused to appoint a legal representative in the country.
“There is growing evidence that Fake Judge Alexandre engaged in serious, repeated, and deliberate election interference in Brazil’s last presidential election,” Musk said in a post on X.
There is growing evidence that fake judges are @Alexander Brazil’s last presidential election was marred by serious, repeated and deliberate interference.
According to Brazilian law, this would mean up to 20 years in prison.
And, I’m sorry to say, it appears that some of the former…
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 1, 2024
He said that former Twitter employees helped him. He also called upon people to share examples.
Musk said, “According to Brazilian law, this could mean up to 20 years in prison. And, I’m sorry to say, it appears that some former Twitter employees were involved in helping him do this. If anyone has examples or evidence in this regard, please respond to this post.”
Brazil is one of the biggest markets for X, with reportedly over 22 million users.
According to news agency Xinhua, the dispute between the platform and de Moraes has been going on for several months, after the platform has refused to comply with court orders to remove profiles that promote content related to the coup or undermine democracy.
Musk also warned investors against investing in the country. On Saturday, he said: “The repressive regime in Brazil is so afraid of people finding out the truth that they will bankrupt anyone who tries to do so”.
Brazil’s Supreme Federal Court has also ordered X to pay a fine of 18 million reais (about $3.2 million) for non-compliance.
According to de Moraes, X has promoted “the activities of extremist groups and digital militias.” The Supreme Court judge said the platform was “promoting the dissemination of Nazi, racist, fascist, hateful and anti-democratic speech”, especially ahead of the upcoming elections.
De Moraes also directed the country’s national telecommunications agency (Anatel) to block access to X within 24 hours. The Brazilian judge has given Apple and Google five days to remove the X app from their online stores.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
