Elon Musk fights for free speech in Brazil
If free speech is a measure of a modern liberal democracy, Brazil is in trouble. A crackdown on expression and the denial of due process for those who contradict the state’s version of the truth dates back to 2020. Now it’s getting worse.
The latest example is Supreme Court Judge Alexandre de Moraes’s Sept. 1 shutdown of Elon Musk’s X social-media site (formerly Twitter). As part of the court’s order, anyone caught using a virtual private network to evade the ban is subject to a fine of 50,000 reais (nearly $9,000) a day.
Judge de Moraes also announced a freeze of the financial accounts of Starlink, the satellite system belonging to Mr. Musk’s SpaceX. Starlink is used by internet providers that serve millions of Brazilians.
Judge de Moraes has nothing against X per se. His beef is with social-media influencers whose use of irreverence and derision as rhetorical weapons against the ruling establishment makes them popular on the right side of Brazilian politics. Swiftian satire is loads of fun if you’re the forgotten man, powerless against a notoriously corrupt system.
But Judge de Moraes calls these nonconformists purveyors of disinformation and a threat to democracy. He considers it his job to gag them. This has put him at odds with Mr.
Musk, who isn’t involved in Brazilian politics but has a commitment to free speech. Other platforms have obeyed the court’s instructions to block antiestablishment opinion makers. Mr.
Musk refuses to comply on grounds that doing so would violate Brazil’s constitution, which in Articles 5 and 220 explicitly protects speech. Under threats by Judge de Moraes to jail X employees for disobeying him, Mr. Musk has removed his representatives from the country.
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