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- Elon Musk is clashing with a Supreme Court judge in Brazil.
- Justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered X to block accounts he’s investigating over alleged misinformation.
Another day, another feud for Elon Musk.
A clash between Musk and a Brazilian Supreme Court judge came to a head over the weekend, as Justice Alexandre de Moraes opened an investigation into the X owner, accusing him of possible obstruction of justice.
Musk, for his part, alleged de Moraes is betraying the Brazilian constitution and said he should resign or be impeached.
De Moraes had previously ordered that certain accounts on X be blocked in Brazil amid an investigation into so-called “digital militias” that he alleged were spreading fake news and threats against Brazil’s Supreme Court during the reign of former President Jair Bolsonaro, the AP reports.
On Saturday, X’s Global Affairs account confirmed it had been forced to block “certain popular accounts in Brazil” — and Musk personally called out de Moraes.
But that same day, Musk said X would not block the accounts in question.
“We are lifting all restrictions,” he wrote on X. “This judge has applied massive fines, threatened to arrest our employees and cut off access to X in Brazil. As a result, we will probably lose all revenue in Brazil and have to shut down our office there. But principles matter more than profit.”
On Sunday, Musk also said he would share all of de Moraes’ demands publicly and encouraged users to download a VPN.
Musk hasn’t released the orders as of Monday morning.
De Moraes hit back late on Sunday, opening a separate investigation into Musk for obstruction of justice, criminal organization, and incitement to crime.
“The flagrant conduct of obstruction of Brazilian justice, incitement of crime, the public threat of disobedience of court orders and future lack of cooperation from the platform are facts that disrespect the sovereignty of Brazil,” de Moraes wrote in his latest decision, according to the AP.
The decision also said that each reactivated account would incur a fine of roughly $20,000 per day, and that responsible parties would be held accountable for disobeying the court.
X returned an auto-reply in response to a request for comment from Business Insider. De Moraes did not immediately respond to a request for comment from BI.
While Elon Musk is drawing a line in the sand with Brazil’s request, the company has pushed back but ultimately given in to other country’s leaders in the past.
In February, the X Global Government Affairs team posted that India’s government had ordered it to censor some accounts.
“In compliance with the orders, we will withhold these accounts and posts in India alone,” the team said. “However, we disagree with these actions and maintain that freedom of expression should extend to these posts.”
The company also agreed to block accounts in Turkey after the government’s order to shut down content before elections last year.