Brazil Court Requests Documents from X as Platform Begins Compliance with Orders, Reports Reuters

BRASILIA (Reuters) – The Brazilian Supreme Court requested that the social media platform X, owned by Elon Musk, provide documentation confirming its new legal representative in Brazil. The company’s legal team has indicated that it will comply with the court’s conditions to resume its operations in the country.

X was suspended in Brazil in late August due to its failure to meet court orders related to the moderation of hate speech on the platform. However, in recent days, representatives from X have begun to express their intentions to address these judicial demands, a change from their previous stance of non-compliance.

On Friday, X’s lawyers announced that the platform had appointed a legal representative in Brazil, fulfilling a significant requirement set forth by the court. On Saturday, Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes granted X five days to submit commercial registrations and other relevant documents to confirm the formal appointment of Rachel de Oliveira Conceicao as its legal representative in Brazil.

Brazilian regulations stipulate that foreign entities must have a legal representative to operate within the country, who assumes legal responsibilities locally. X maintained a legal representative in Brazil until mid-August when it opted to shut down its offices and lay off its staff.

This decision followed a lengthy conflict between Musk and Justice Moraes regarding X’s noncompliance with court directives to tackle the proliferation of hate speech, which Musk criticized as censorship.

In addition to appointing a legal representative, Brazil’s Supreme Court has also mandated that X block certain accounts involved in a hate speech and misinformation investigation, along with paying fines exceeding $3 million to lift the ban.

Initially, X declared that it would not follow what it termed "illegal" orders; however, its lawyers have since stated that the platform will pay the outstanding fines and has begun the process of blocking the specified accounts. The identities of the accounts to be blocked remain unclear, as the investigation is confidential.

Despite the ban, X became accessible to a number of users in Brazil on Wednesday for a limited time following an update to its communications network that circumvented the court-imposed restrictions.