Elon Musk-owned companies Starlink and X saw freezes to their accounts lifted after Brazil’s Supreme Court ordered the transfer of BRL18.35 million (US$3.3 million) from their account to government coffers.
Reuters reported, the freeze was undone because the money transferred was what X owed to the government in fines, over a feud over censorship on the social media platform.
X did not comply to court orders to block and reveal certain accounts that were deemed to be spreading hate speech. Brazil's Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes stated these accounts were spreading “fake news” and in response Musk called the justice’s action as “censorship”.
The social media platform also did not name a local legal representative as necessary to comply with local laws, and ignored a deadline to comply with court orders.
Despite accounts being unfrozen, Moraes remains steadfast in keeping access to X blocked because of the lack of legal representation and content on X had not been removed.
