A Brazilian judge on Tuesday ordered the unfreezing of Elon Musk’s X’s bank accounts in the country after the social media platform agreed to pay more than $5 million in fines.
The ruling by Supreme Court Judge Alexandre de Moraes paves the way for the lifting of X’s suspension in Brazil, where it has been off-limits to users since August 31 in a standoff over disinformation between the judge and Musk.
Moraes ordered the closure of X in Latin America’s largest country after Musk refused to remove dozens of right-wing accounts and then failed to appoint a new legal representative in the country as ordered.
In his latest ruling, the judge ordered Brazil’s central bank to unfreeze X’s bank accounts so that he can receive transfers and “immediately pay the indicated fines.”
X had informed the court that it would pay fines of approximately $5.2 million, according to the ruling.
High-profile judge Moraes has been embroiled in a long feud with Tesla and SpaceX owner Musk as part of his push to tackle misinformation in Brazil.
The clash between Brazil’s court and the billionaire has turned into a high-stakes battle, testing the limits of both freedom of expression and corporate responsibility in South America’s largest country.
X had more than 22 million users in Brazil before the ban, which was implemented on August 31.
The company began complying with the Brazilian court’s conditions for reactivation last week.
Musk has repeatedly responded to Moraes in social media posts, calling him an “evil dictator” and calling him “Voldemort” after the villain from the “Harry Potter” series.
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