(Reuters) – X Corp, formerly Twitter, has been “forced by court orders” to block some popular accounts in Brazil and is prohibited from disclosing details of the order, the company said on Saturday.
X owner Elon Musk said in a post on the platform that the order could result in a complete loss of revenue and the closure of offices in Brazil, promising that he would challenge it legally where possible.
The social media company said it does not know why the blocking orders were issued and it is prohibited from providing details of the affected accounts, adding that it faces daily fines if it does not comply.
“This judge imposed huge fines, threatened to arrest our employees and cut off access to X in Brazil,” Musk said, referring to a user post about Supreme Court Judge Alexandre de Moraes’ “crackdown on free speech.”
Last year, Moraes also ordered an investigation into executives at social messaging platform Telegram and Alphabet’s Google (NASDAQ:) who led a campaign to criticize a proposed Internet regulation bill.
The bill would hold internet companies, search engines and social messaging services accountable for finding and reporting illegal material, rather than leaving it up to the courts, and levy hefty fines for failing to do so.