Brazil’s Conservative Party Battles Supreme Court Ban On Musk’s X; Details

A conservative party in Brazil is trying to escalate the months-long battle over hate speech and censorship in the biggest country in South America by trying to overturn a judge's ban on Elon Musk's X platform. The high-stakes battle with the billionaire's business empire will intensify when a second high court judge will hear Partido Novo's appeal of Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes' ruling to ban the popular social media site.

Partido Novo candidate for Rio de Janeiro's municipal council Jonathan Mariano told Reuters that "this is about freedom of expression - we want X back to normal in Brazil."

After the platform, previously Twitter disobeyed instructions to block certain accounts suspected of disseminating "fake news" and hate messages that the judge deemed to be a threat to democracy, Moraes this week ordered X barred in its sixth-biggest market.

READ: X Brazil News: X Will 'Remain Available' For People; Elon Musk Says Closing Operations 'Difficult'

Additionally, he put Musk's Starlink satellite broadband company's assets on hold in case X owed him money in fines. Moraes was accused by Musk, who has referred to him as a "dictator," of "shutting down the #1 source of truth in Brazil." Because of what it claimed to be "censorship" by the judge, X closed its headquarters in Brazil. This Thursday, Partido Novo requested a court injunction to stop Moraes's ban on X, arguing that it violates the Constitution.

The party also questioned why Starlink's assets were frozen, claiming that the two companies are independent businesses. Regarding the difficulties facing the party on Wednesday, Moraes remained silent. Throughout this week, multiple demands for comment from Musk, his attorney, and Starlink went unanswered.

Bolsonaro—will consider Partido Novo's motion. He is anticipated to either dismiss the case or take it before a larger judicial panel. Although a deadline for a judgment has not been established, Marques is anticipated to act swiftly in light of the fallout from Moraes' actions against Musk's organisations. Marques was unavailable for comment at the time of writing. Musk is the CEO of the massive electric vehicle company Tesla in addition to owning X and 40% of Starlink's parent company SpaceX. Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, the socialist president of Brazil, supported Moraes' decision to suspend X, saying,

"Just because a guy has a lot of money doesn't mean he can disrespect" the law. Musk derided the president as Moraes' "lapdog." Moraes' decision was backed by one of the Supreme Court's two panels, although some experts said a wider consensus should have been sought.

"Such a controversial issue should have been debated by all 11 justices, not just by half of them," said Sao Paulo-based constitutional lawyer Vera Chemim, who argued the case boils down to a battle for power between Musk and Moraes. Chemim said the freezing of Starlink's accounts violates Brazilian law and should be immediately reversed. But a former Supreme Court chief justice, Carlos Ayres Britto, disagreed.

"X and Starlink are tentacles of the same octopus, they form an economic group," he remarked. It's not just Partido Novo that disagrees with Moraes' choice. The Supreme Court has also been petitioned by the Brazilian Bar Association to overturn Moraes' ruling fining Brazilians 50,000 reais ($8,900) a day for using VPNs to access X within the nation. The association claimed that the separation of powers, full defence, and due process clauses are violated by the imposition of fines.