By Ricardo Brito and Luciana Magalhães
BRASILIA (Reuters) – Elon Musk’s social media platform X will file its legal representation in Brazil “soon” at the local supreme court as it fights a ruling to halt its operations in the country, a lawyer for the company said on Thursday.
The move would be X’s biggest step yet in complying with the demands of Brazil’s Supreme Court, which in late August ordered the social media platform suspended over concerns about the spread of hate speech.
Andre Zonaro and Sergio Rosenthal, who were recently appointed as Mr X’s lawyers in Brazil, told Reuters their firm had already sent documents to the Supreme Court appointing legal representatives.
The representatives were still being selected, the officials added.
In August, after months of wrangling between Musk and Brazilian Judge Alexandre de Moraes, the Supreme Court ordered Brazil’s mobile and internet service providers to block the platform, cutting off users within hours.
Despite the ban, X was accessible to many users in Brazil on Wednesday after an update to the company’s communications network allowed it to circumvent the court-ordered block.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered X not to evade the ruling, saying it could be fined 5 million reais ($921,726.95) per day.
“There is no doubt that X, under the direct command of Elon Musk, intends to once again flout Brazilian justice,” Moraes wrote in the latest order, saying the platform had a “strategy” to circumvent the ban.
X said on Wednesday that a change in network provider had caused an “unintended and temporary recovery of service” in Brazil, adding that it was working with the Brazilian government to restore service “as quickly as possible.”
Lawyers on Thursday said the incident was a “technical glitch” that allowed users to access social media platforms in the country.
Courts have previously blocked accounts under investigation for spreading misinformation or hate, a move Musk has denounced as censorship.
The court also ordered X to appoint a local legal representative, as required by Brazilian law, following the company’s closure of its Brazilian office in mid-August.
Lawyers representing Company X in Brazil said the company has also begun complying with orders to remove content.
(1 dollar = 5.4246 reals)
(Reporting by Ricardo Brito and Luciana Magalhaes; Editing by Brendan O’Boyle, Rod Nickel and Sonali Paul)
