(Bloomberg) — Brazil has withdrawn 18.35 million reais ($3.3 million) from the bank accounts of Elon Musk’s X and Starlink to pay fines imposed by the Supreme Court in a dispute stemming from a blackout of the billionaire’s social media service in the country.
Most read from Bloomberg
The court ordered the transfer of the funds on Wednesday and the accounts have since been released, according to a statement from the judicial authority released on Friday.
Musk is locked in a bitter standoff with Brazil’s top judge, who is leading a crackdown on fake news and hate speech in Latin America’s largest country. Judge Alexandre de Moraes last month ordered the platform formerly known as Twitter to be banned and blocked Starlink’s accounts in an effort to force the US tech impresario’s company to pay fines it had been slapped with for defying an earlier order.
“The freezing of the accounts took place because the judge took into account the joint liability of X Brasil Internet Ltda., Starlink Brazil Holding Ltda. and Starlink Brazil Internet Services Ltda. for the payment of fines,” the court said on Friday.
Representatives for Musk’s companies did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
X remains banned in Brazil, as it has failed to comply with Moraes’ order to block certain user accounts and appoint a legal representative in the country.
The judge’s campaign has been portrayed as a dangerous example of government intervention and an attack on freedom of speech, and the issue has become a rallying cry for the billionaire’s right-wing allies around the world.
(Updates with request for comment and additional context starting in the 5th paragraph. An earlier version corrected the dollar amount in the headline and lead.)
Most read from Bloomberg Businessweek
©2024 Bloomberg LP
