Brazil is preventing Elon Musk’s satellite internet operation Starlink from conducting financial transactions in the country, the company said Thursday. in a message on Xfurther escalating the already tense battle between Musk and Brazil’s Supreme Court.
Starlink, part of Musk’s SpaceX, said it received an order earlier this week freezing its finances that was issued in secret and without due process, which is guaranteed by Brazil’s constitution. Starlink plans to pursue the matter legally, it said in a follow-up statement.
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Brazil’s Supreme Court has not yet responded to a request for comment.
A day earlier, Brazil’s Supreme Court threatened to ban X within 24 hours unless Musk’s social media platform appoints a new legal representative for the country, according to an order from the court posted on X.
Earlier this month, X said that the cease its activities in Brazil after a months-long dispute with one of the court’s judges, who in April ordered the platform to remove several accounts believed to be spreading hate speech and misinformation.
X did not provide more specific details at the time about what the closure operations would entail, but it did not affect the ability of users to access the platform in the country. The order issued on Wednesday could close an entire market for X if it were to Advertisers chased awayis financial struggle and is on the list of worst takeover for banks since the financial crisis.
X did not respond to a request for comment on Wednesday evening.
Musk, a self-proclaimed absolutist of freedom of speech, initially said he would risk closing X’s office in Brazil before complying with the order. Later, X struck a more conciliatory tone, saying it was “committed to maintaining our Brazilian office and operations,” while also promising to protect freedom of expression.
But the fight escalated further when Judge Alexandre de Moraes opened an investigation into Musk for possible obstruction of justice. On August 17, X said it had decided to stop operating in Brazil.
X said it had closed operations in the South American country to protect the safety of its staff due to what it called threats from Moraes. Musk said the social media platform felt it had no choice after a judge issued injunctions that “would require us to (secretly) violate Brazilian, Argentine, U.S. and international law.”
—Micah Maidenberg contributed to this article.
Write to Meghan Bobrowsky at meghan.bobrowsky@wsj.com
