Brazilian Court Requests Documents From X After Platform Starts Complying With Orders

X, which is owned by Elon Musk, was asked to submit documents to the Brazilian government (photo: x @x)

JAKARTA - Brazil's Supreme Court on Saturday 21 September asked social media platform X, which is owned by Elon Musk, to submit documents proving its new legal representation in the country. This was done after the company's lawyers confirmed that they would comply with a court order to continue operations in Brazil.

X was suspended operations in Brazil in late August after failing to comply with orders related to hate speech moderation on the platform. However, in recent days, representatives X began to publicly state their intention to comply with court demands, although the company had previously refused to comply.

Lawyer X on Friday evening September 20 said the platform had appointed Rachel de Oliveira Conceicao as its legal representative in Brazil, fulfilling one of the important demands of the court.

In a decision on Saturday, Supreme Court judge Alexandre de Moraes gave X five days to submit a commercial registration document proving that Rachel de Oliveira Conceicao had been officially appointed as X's legal representative in Brazil.

Brazilian law requires foreign companies to have domestic legal representatives who are responsible for corporate legal obligations locally. Previously, X had legal representatives until mid-August, before closing his office and sacking his staff in Brazil, following months of disputes between Musk and Moraes over the platform's non-compliance with court orders in dealing with the spread of hate speech, which Musk called a form of censorship.

In addition to the appointment of legal representatives, Brazil's Supreme Court also ordered X to block several accounts under investigation in cases of hate speech and disinformation, as well as pay fines of more than US$3 million (Rp45.3 billion) as a condition for lifting the ban. Initially, X stated that he would not comply with orders deemed "illegal," but now his lawyer has confirmed that the platform will pay fines and start blocking ordered accounts.

It is not clear which account was ordered to be blocked, as this investigation is confidential. Despite the ban, X was accessible to some users in Brazil on Wednesday for a limited amount of time after updates to the platform's communications network passed a court-ordered blocking.