Brazil judge opens inquiry into Musk after refusal to block accounts on X
A standoff between Elon Musk and Brazil escalated on Sunday when a Supreme Court judge opened an inquiry into the billionaire after Musk said he would reactivate accounts on the social media platform X that the judge had ordered blocked.
Musk, the owner of X and a self-declared free speech absolutist, has challenged a decision by Justice Alexandre de Moraes ordering the blocking of certain accounts. He has said X, formerly known as Twitter, would lift all the restrictions because they were unconstitutional and called on Moraes to resign.
Neither Musk, X nor Brazilian authorities have disclosed which social media accounts were ordered blocked. X first posted about the order to block on Saturday but it was not immediately clear when the order was issued.
Moraes is investigating "digital militias" that have been accused of spreading fake news and hate messages during the government of former far-right President Jair Bolsonaro and is also leading an investigation into an alleged coup attempt by Bolsonaro.
Note that this is not “just banning someone’s account because they don’t like it”. These are people involved in criminal investigations. Shutting them down is meant to plug their criminal activities so society doesn’t get further damaged by them while the police and judiciary work on actually convicting them.
As an aside: I don’t know why you’re being downvoted. I disagree with your view but your question was asked respectfully and in good faith.
I recognise that, but I am commenting that this power seems easily abusable.
Correction. They've been accused of criminal activity but as far as I understand it they haven't actually been found in guilty yet.
That’s what I said. They’re under a criminal investigation.
You don't punish people prior to the completion of the investigation.
What if they turn out to be innocent you've now just violated their rights for no reason
You don’t punish them per se, but you do sanction them.
For example, Bolsonaro can’t leave the country even though he hasn’t been found guilty of anything yet.
Also, someone who’s been accused of murder will probably be arrested preventatively if the judge in charge has reason to believe they will reincide before the proceedings are through.
These things happen all the time and they’re designed to protect society from further damage from criminals who haven’t yet been fully judged and processed.
Courts do it everyday. It’s called an injunction.