A Brazilian justice wants the country’s high court to review a challenge to the ban on Elon Musk’s X brought by a conservative political party.
On Thursday, Justice Nunes Marques formally requested Brazil’s Supreme Court to review the case brought by Partido Novo. The party wants to overturn X’s ban in the country and argued that Starlink’s assets shouldn’t be frozen.
Justice Marques is expected to take Partido Novo’s case before the Supreme Court soon, but an exact date has not been confirmed. He was appointed to the bench by former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro.
The challenge is the latest in the battle between X and Brazil. On Monday, the Supreme Court upheld Justice Alexandre de Moraes’ order to ban the social media platform in the country, drawing a fierce rebuke from Mr. Musk.
The ban makes it illegal for any internet service provider in Brazil to host X, which means most Brazilians can’t access the site. Starlink, the satellite broadband company also owned by Mr. Musk, initially promised to keep access to X open for customers. However, the company reversed course Wednesday after Brazilian regulators froze Starlink’s assets.
Brazil’s X ban was stewarded by Justice Moraes, who this year ordered X to restrict accounts accused of spreading information he didn’t like. Mr. Musk and X initially agreed to cooperate with the order, but relations broke down quickly and the company refused to censor the accounts.
Mr. Musk has since called Justice Moraes a dictator and closed X’s offices in Brazil.
• Vaughn Cockayne can be reached at vcockayne@washingtontimes.com.
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