Elon Musk’s fight for freedom of expression in Brazil is expensive

De Moraes imposed the fines on X after the company refused to appoint a legal representative to respond to the government’s request to remove accounts or certain posts on the platform. The accounts in question were linked to “digital militias“who, according to de Moraes, systematically spread misinformation to support the ousted far-right former president Jair Bolsonaro.

“After paying the entire amount owed, the judge considered that further blocking of the bank accounts was not necessary and ordered the immediate release of the bank accounts/financial assets,” the Brazilian Supreme Court said in a statement.

The frozen company accounts have been restored. Nevertheless, the seizure suggests that Musk will incur significant financial costs to keep up the fight for his stated goal of protecting free speech online.

Musk himself has a less than perfect track record when it comes to protecting free speech – he has, for example, acceded to demands from the increasingly authoritarian governments of Turkey and India to restrict content – but even his most reluctant supporters believe he has a point in Brazil, where the Brazilian judiciary has taken a more extreme stance in dealing with disinformation than other democratic leaders.

Some of the right-wing extremist groups de Moraes has tried to restrict online advertising, argued that Bolsonaro’s defeat in the 2022 elections was caused by voter fraud and supported a mob that stormed the Brazilian parliament to force a Military coup that would have taken control of the country’s government.

As in the United States, Brazil’s constitution protects freedom of speech, but the Brazilian government has more discretion than the U.S. government to ban certain types of speech.

Musk countered that the people against whom de Moraes has taken legal action have not been convicted of a crime and that the Brazilian judge’s attempts to restrict their online activities therefore amount to censorship. In retaliation for the action against X, Musk has provoked the Brazilian judiciary online, comparing him to Lord Voldemort from the “Harry Potter” series and suggesting that de Moraes’ court orders constituted violations of Brazilian law that should result in a prison sentence for the judge.

What does this have to do with Starlink?

The dispute between Musk and de Moraes escalated over months and resulted in the seizure of funds from X and SpaceX. While the connection between the social media site’s legal problems and the satellite communications company’s responsibility for the former’s fines is fragile, de Moraes has dragged both companies owned by Musk into the dispute.

Musk’s refusal to comply with a court order to remove certain content from his social media platform led de Moraes to threaten to issue an arrest warrant for Rachel Nova Conceicao, a representative of X, prompting Musk to close X’s office in Brazil.

De Moraes then ordered a ban on X in Brazil – a demand that SpaceX Starlink initially refused to comply, but then changed course and blocked access to the platform from its internet-providing satellites after its operating license in the country was threatened. Other internet service providers in the country readily complied with de Moraes’ order to block the platform, thus avoiding similar action by the judge.

Legal experts have questioned de Moraes’ attempt to force Starlink to pay the fines imposed on X, since the only connection between the two companies is that they are owned by the same person.

“Starlink is a different company. The fact that it belongs to the same economic group does not mean that it is also liable for debts in which it was not involved. It did not even have a chance to defend itself,” the Associated Press reported on social media Brazilian lawyer Lêsio Streck. “What could Starlink have done to prevent what the other company did?”

Representatives for X and SpaceX did not immediately respond to Business Insider’s requests for comment.