X reverses course in Brazil

It seems that Elon Musk-owned social network X (formerly Twitter) is backing down from a confrontation with Brazil’s Supreme Court.

The New York Times reported on a new court filing in which the company’s lawyers said X had complied with the court’s orders — blocking designated accounts, paying fines, and naming a new formal representative in the country.

In a filing of its own, the Supreme Court reportedly responded by telling X it had not provided the proper paperwork and giving it five days to do so.

The dispute started with an investigation by Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes into election misinformation. Moraes ordered the company to block certain accounts, and while X said at one point that it would comply, it instead shut down operations in Brazil.

Moraes then banned the service and threatened users with fines if they tried to get around the ban using a VPN. X came back online in Brazil earlier this week, although Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince told TechCrunch that the timing of the company’s recent switch to Cloudflare infrastructure is just a “coincidence.”

During the ban, Brazilian users sought out social media alternatives, leading to dramatic growth at Bluesky and Tumblr.

X did not immediately respond to TechCrunch’s request for comment, and neither Musk nor X’s Global Government Affairs account appears to have mentioned the news. (Both accounts have criticized Moraes’ decisions in the past.) On Wednesday, X said it would “continue efforts to work with the Brazilian government to return very soon for the people of Brazil.”