A Brazilian court has announced the opening of an investigation into X owner Elon Musk for obstruction of justice after Musk reactivated a far-right account that had been flagged for deletion by the Brazilian government.The announcement was made after Mr. Musk called Chief Justice Alexandre de Moraes, head of Brazil's High Electoral Court (TSE), will “resign or be impeached.” Statement from X It argued that the order to delete the account violated Brazil's constitution.
The court has not released a list of the accounts it has asked to be blocked or investigated, but the São Paulo-based newspaper said: Estadon They reported that Alain dos Santos, a fugitive far-right influencer and supporter of President Jair Bolsonaro, was among them. (Dos Santos fled the country in 2020 to avoid investigation for spreading disinformation.) The list includes people with more than 1 million followers on X who say Brazil should recognize the Nazi party; This includes right-wing YouTuber Bruno Aiub, also known as Monarch. and Brazilian billionaire and Bolsonaro supporter Luciano Han.
Separately, after taking over the company, Musk reactivated the accounts of Brazilian far-right politicians Carla Zambelli, Gustavo Geyer and Nicolas Ferreira. Ferreira, a Bolsonaro supporter, publicly questioned the safety of Brazil's electronic voting machines despite winning local elections.
“All of these names have been an issue on social media for years,” says Flora Rebello Arduini, campaign director at nonprofit advocacy group Echo. “They have been promoting the far right and election misinformation for years.”
Arduini said that when Musk bought Twitter in 2022 and later changed its name to He said he was concerned. “He has unprecedented broadcasting ability. He bullies the Supreme Court justices of democracies and uses everything he can to advance those favorable to his personal opinions and professional ambitions. It shows that the company intends to use the resources of
Under Musk, X became a haven for the far right and disinformation. After his inauguration, Musk granted amnesty to users who had been banned from the platform, including right-wing influencer and convicted human trafficker Andrew Tate. A 2023 study found that hate speech increased on the platform under Musk's leadership. The situation in Brazil is just the latest example of Musk collaborating with and building on dangerous far-right movements around the world, experts told WIRED. “This is not about Twitter or Brazil. It's about the strategy of the global far right to overcome democracies and democratic institutions around the world,” said Brazil's far right, a digital democracy researcher at the National Institute of Science and Technology. says researcher Nina Santos. right. “The opinions of America's billionaires should not carry more weight than our democratic institutions.”
It also comes as Brazil assesses and investigates the situation leading up to January 8, 2023, when election-denying insurrectionists stormed Brazil's Congress, refusing to accept the defeat of right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro. This is also part of our continued efforts. The TSE, the country's electoral tribunal, is a special judicial body that investigates electoral crimes and is part of the mechanism that oversees the country's overall electoral process. The court has been investigating the spread of fake news and disinformation that cast doubt on the country's elections in the months and years leading up to the Jan. 8, 2023, attack on Congress. Both Mr. Arduini and Mr. Santos believe the accounts that Mr. Musk has denied are true. The removal is likely related to a court investigation.