Refusal to comply with local laws suggests social media company ‘considered itself above the rule of law’, says judge

Members of Brazil’s supreme court have unanimously voted to uphold the ban on X, after Elon Musk’s refusal to comply with local laws led to the social network being blocked in one of its biggest markets.

On Monday, five of the court’s justices were asked to consider Friday’s decision to temporarily banish X from Brazil, where the platform has more than 21 million users. By lunchtime all five had voted in favour of the ban.

Casting his vote in favour of X’s continued suspension, Flávio Dino said the company’s decision to “deliberately” ignore a court order to name a legal representative in Brazil suggested it “considered itself above the rule of law”.

  • Monomate@lemm.eeEnglish
    626·
    2 months ago

    Are we seeing the same thing? I’ve never seen as much activity from Brazilian users on X as now.

    I guess all this block did was teach the Brazilian population how to use VPNs. And most are just ignoring the threat of a US$ 8.900,00 daily fine from the dictator because, by its very nature, VPNs keep them anonymous. X is on bad terms with the dictator, so it will not expose anyone’s IP addresses even if requested by him. None of the major VPN companies are based in Brazil, and it would be hard to ask them for IP addresses too.

    Even some major news outlets are still posting on X, saying that they’re posting through “international staff members.” Some politicians and notable personalities are starting to use the same excuse: “someone out of the country is posting for me.” This block is looking pretty ineffective, and it’s serving as an educational incentive for people to start using VPNs. If any more social media platforms are also blocked, people are already well prepared to circumvent the blocks.

    So, what has the dictator gained from this temper tantrum? He forced X out of the country, leaving no local offices to receive his orders, even the reasonable ones like those related to normal (non-political persecution) crimes. And he strengthened the protests that were already scheduled for September 7th (Brazil Independence Day), which will turn into an event mainly asking for his impeachment.

    • ShinkanTrain@lemmy.mlEnglish
      11·
      2 months ago

      I guess all this block did was teach the Brazilian population how to use VPNs.

      ISPs have a period to comply with the order. Mine still hasn’t blocked the shitshow.

          • Monomate@lemm.eeEnglish
            312·
            2 months ago

            When a X user finds himself unable to load X’s main page or the app, he will be motivated to investagate why, and finally he’ll find out VPNs are the solution. X’s brazilian users were already discussing and suggesting VPNs to each other on the days leading up to the block. And the block is not 100% yet: smaller ISPs are taking longer to set up the block.

            • deus@lemmy.worldEnglish
              14·
              2 months ago

              Yeah, I doubt most people will go this route. VPNs cost money, Twitter alternatives are free.

              • Monomate@lemm.eeEnglish
                39·
                2 months ago

                Free VPNs don’t cost money. And times have changed: there are some reputable free VPNs, like ProtonVPN and Cloudflare’s WARP.

            • Zron@lemmy.worldEnglish
              12·
              2 months ago

              You mean: when an X user finds themselves unable to load the main page, they’ll get frustrated, uninstall the app and leave a review about how it’s broken.

              You grossly overestimate the tech savvyness of your average internet user, and their willingness to spend any amount of time or money to fix a minor inconvenience.

              • Monomate@lemm.eeEnglish
                213·
                2 months ago

                If the solution is as simple as downloading a VPN app from the smartphone app store and clicking “activate VPN,” I wouldn’t consider it tech-savvy territory. In the past, VPNs were indeed esoteric tech for nerds, but nowadays they’re commoditized stuff. And if Brazil’s regime keeps getting more repressive under the dictator, with the blocking of more social media sites, more people will have the opportunity/necessity to learn about VPNs.

        • towerful@programming.devEnglish
          1·
          2 months ago

          The judge that banned X also stated a fine of 10k for anyone using a VPN to circumvent the ban.
          Difficult to police and enforce, but it’s been made clear that accessing X is considered illegal

          • Monomate@lemm.eeEnglish
            21·
            2 months ago

            In other words: the judge issued an order that affects everyone, not only the parties involved in the judicial process, and without the need for each affected individual to be formally notified so he/she can know how to avoid being fined. So, he basically legislated by himself. No wonder people are saying he’s a dictator.

    • Virkkunen@fedia.io
      91·
      2 months ago

      Tell me you support Bolsonaro and Musk without telling me you support them

      • Monomate@lemm.eeEnglish
        211·
        2 months ago

        Actually, Bolsonaro is a fraud. He only acts in the self-interest of himself and his immediate family members. As he’s being threatened by the dictator, with some speculation that he could be arrested at any time, he’s keeping silent during this whole X blocking incident so he doesn’t suffer retaliation from the dictator.

        As for Musk, I know that, like every businessman, he has his financial interests. I surely would if I were one, and I would not blame anyone for doing the same, as nobody gets rich spending money unwisely. However, I can recognize that his passion for free speech is genuine; otherwise, he wouldn’t have bought Twitter for $44 billion. Under the most reasonable analysis, this was a bad deal in terms of return on investment. Maybe it’ll bear fruit in the long term, but it’s a big, nebulous maybe. So as he decided to buy it anyway, he surely did so on principle, not for money.