Brazil’s Supreme Court has released the assets of Elon Musk’s satellite communications company Starlink and social platform X after 18.35 million reais, approximately $3.3 million, were transferred to state coffers.
According to a press release on Friday, Supreme Court Judge Alexandre de Moraes ordered that Starlink and X’s bank accounts and assets be unfrozen after the funds were transferred, covering the fines X had to pay for non-compliance.
Approximately 7.28 million real, approximately $1.3 million, was transferred from X, while 11.07 million real, approximately $1.99 million, was transferred from Starlink by order of the court.
X was imposed heavy fines for failing to comply with De Moraes’ order to remove certain content from the platform and appoint a new legal representative.
The social media company closed its office in Brazil and refused to appoint a new representative after a judge threatened to arrest the previous representative for failing to comply with takedown requests.
After X refused to appoint a new representative, De Moraes ordered X’s suspension in Brazil. The platform has been blocked in the country of 220 million since the end of last month.
X and Musk present the feud with De Moraes as a battle over freedom of speech and censorship.
Shortly before De Moraes’ suspension went into effect, X’s Global Government Affairs team said it was facing a shutdown “simply because we would not comply with his illegal orders to censor his political opponents.”
“Freedom of speech is the foundation of democracy and an unelected pseudo-judge in Brazil is destroying it for political purposes,” Musk, the owner of X, also wrote in a post on the platform at the time.
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