Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk’s satellite broadband company, Starlink, has decided to comply with a Brazilian court order to block access to social media platform X, formerly Twitter, in Brazil, reversing its previous stance.
What Happened: Starlink initially informed Brazil’s telecom regulator, Anatel, that it would not obey the order.
However, the company backtracked on Tuesday, stating that it is now complying with the order, despite the “illegal treatment” of freezing its assets in Brazil.
“Regardless of the illegal treatment of Starlink in freezing of our assets, we are complying with the order to block access to X in Brazil,” the company said in a post on X, adding, “We continue to pursue all legal avenues, as are others who agree that Alexandre de Moraes’ recent orders violate the Brazilian constitution.”
Anatel confirmed that Starlink has already begun blocking access to X in Brazil, reported Reuters.
The social media platform has been blocked in the country since last week, following a court order due to the platform’s lack of a legal representative.
The company lost the deadline to appeal against the decision to freeze its accounts, and it is unclear what legal measures it will take to overturn the freezing.
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Why It Matters: This development comes after a series of events that have strained the relationship between Starlink and Brazil. In August, Musk announced that SpaceX would continue to provide Starlink services to the Brazilian military and other users, despite the country’s Supreme Court Justice freezing Starlink’s finances.
Earlier this month, the tech billionaire hinted at the possibility of accepting payments in Dogecoin for Starlink services in Brazil, following the freezing of its bank accounts.
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Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
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