A justice on Brazil’s Supreme Court opened a separate investigation into Elon Musk for alleged obstruction after he fought back against an ongoing Supreme Court investigation into fake news, CBS News reported.
Justice Alexandre de Moraes wrote in an April 7 decision that Musk was waging a “disinformation campaign” against the Supreme Court’s actions when he posted on X that his social media company would not comply with the Brazilian high court’s orders to block specific accounts.
Moraes accused Musk of “flagrant” obstruction, inciting crime, and threatening “disobedience of court orders,” and said the platform’s lack of cooperation disrespected “the sovereignty of Brazil.”
The justice said Musk would be investigated separately for the criminal instrumentalization of his platform as part of the court’s broader investigation into so-called “digital militias” that are allegedly spreading threats and fake news against the Brazilian justices.
Moraes said the investigation into Musk would seek to determine if the social media owner engaged in obstruction, incitement, and criminal organization.
On Monday evening, Musk asserted that X would support the people of Brazil, regardless of political affiliation. In a subsequent post, he described Justice Moraes as the “unelected dictator of Brazil.”
Musk explained that Moraes was expecting X to suspend the accounts of those expressing concerns about corruption in Brazil by “insisting that X pretend the suspension was for violating our terms of service.” He said while the platform would even “obey the laws of countries” with which it disagreed, the accounts Moraes wanted X to suspend had not violated Brazilian laws.
Proponents of the justice’s actions argue that while his decisions are often extraordinary, they are legal and necessary to prevent fake news from spreading on social media and to protect Brazil’s democracy.
The country’s attorney general said in an April 6 post on X that Brazil must urgently regulate social media platforms, arguing that the country could not allow foreign billionaires to “have control of social networks” or “violate the rule of law” by “threatening our authorities” or “failing to comply with court orders.”
