Judges vote to uphold the ban, which comes amid a standoff over misinformation and hate speech allegations.

All five judges on a Supreme Court panel have voted to uphold a ban on Elon Musk’s X social media platform in Brazil.

The move on Monday backs the decision by Justice Alexandre de Moraes, one of the five judges, to shut down X in Brazil. The ban, which went into effect on Saturday, was ordered by Moraes after the company missed a deadline set by the court to name a legal representative in the South American country.Along with Justice Cristiano Zanin, Justice Flavio Dino declared, “It is not possible for a company to operate in the territory of a country and intend to impose its vision on which rules should be valid or applied.” The two justices were in support of Moraes.

“A person who willfully disregards rulings from the court seems to think they are above the law. It may therefore become an outlaw.The ruling was unanimous since Moraes had support from Justices Carmen Lucia and Luiz Fux as well. But according to a few judges, if X follows earlier court decisions, the suspension may be lifted.Released on Friday, Moraes’s initial directive referred to Musk as a “outlaw” who planned to “allow the massive spread of disinformation, hate Speech and assaults on the democratic rule of law that violate voters’ right to free will by denying them access to true and accurate information.

It directed all national telecom companies to stop operating X. Until X obeys with Moraes’s ruling and pays outstanding fines that as of last week topped $3 million, the ban will stay in effect.

Musk, who purchased X, then known as Twitter, in 2022, criticized the action as censorship. He referred to the site as the best “source of truth” in Brazil on Friday. He also referred to Moraes as a “dictator”. Since Musk purchased X, the South African-born businessman has fired the majority of the platform’s content moderation teams and has increasingly pushed far-right content and unverified claims on his own personal feed, most recently clashing with the UK government over anti-migrant and anti-Muslim riots in the country. He has also backed Donald Trump for President of the United States, and in August, he had a respectful interview with the former president and Republican nominee for the November election.

However, Brazil looks to be serious about cracking down on X in its present version. The ban jeopardizes one of the company’s main markets and comes at a time when Musk is struggling to increase advertising income. Brazil, with a population of around 215 million people, is predicted to have 40 million X users.

Companies and individuals discovered accessing the site via an encrypted connection may risk fines of up to 50,000 reais ($9,000) per day. Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva also spoke out on Monday, telling  Brasil that he was “satisfied” with the Supreme Court panel’s ruling and that it sent a message.

Musk-owned internet provider is defiant: Meanwhile, immediately before the vote, satellite internet provider Starlink informed Brazil’s telecom regulator, Anatel, that it would not follow the decision to prohibit X. Musk also owns Starlink, which is a subsidiary of SpaceX.

Moraes blocked Starlink’s Brazilian bank accounts last Monday, citing a separate disagreement about outstanding fines imposed on X for failing to give over certain papers. Starlink, which has over 200,000 subscribers in Brazil, stated that it will not comply with the decision to ban X until its accounts are unfrozen.

In response, Anatel warned that Starlink might face a number of penalties, including having its local licence terminated. It said that Starlink is now the sole telecoms operator to defy the restriction.