X reverses course, tells Brazil court it will comply with rulings

FILE PHOTO: Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX and owner of X, attends the Viva Technology conference dedicated to innovation and startups at the Porte de Versailles exhibition center in Paris, France, June 16, 2023. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes/File Photo

By Ricardo Brito

BRASILIA (Reuters) -Lawyers representing Elon Musk’s X told Brazil’s Supreme Court that the social media platform will comply with every ruling issued by the court or Brazil’s top electoral court, according to a letter seen by Reuters on Monday.

The document addressed to Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes comes after Musk last week said he would challenge a decision by Moraes ordering X, formerly known as Twitter, to block certain accounts in the South American country.

The move marks a change of stance by X’s Brazilian unit, which last week said in a separate document sent to Moraes that it was not able to control the U.S.-based company’s willingness to comply with the Brazilian court’s orders.

“As already communicated to the federal police, X Brasil informs that all orders issued by this Supreme Court and the Superior Electoral Court will continue to be fully complied with by X Corp,” the lawyers told Moraes in the letter seen on Monday.

Musk, the owner of X and a self-declared free speech absolutist, had previously said he would reverse all restrictions imposed by Moraes because they were unconstitutional and called on the justice to resign.

Moraes in response opened an inquiry into the billionaire for what he called obstruction of justice.

Moraes is investigating “digital militias” that have been accused of spreading fake news and hate messages during the government of former far-right President Jair Bolsonaro. He also leads a probe into an alleged coup attempt by Bolsonaro.

X earlier on Monday said it had been subpoenaed by the U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee to provide information on orders from the Brazilian Supreme Court regarding content moderation.

The lawyers for the social media platform told Moraes that X had complied with the committee’s request for it to share confidential court documents and would keep the justice posted regarding any updates it might get from X Corp on the matter.

(Reporting by Ricardo Brito; Editing by Kylie Madry)