Brazil’s high court judges to vote on ban X By Reuters on Monday

BRASILIA (Reuters) – A five-member panel of Brazil’s Supreme Court will vote on Monday on whether to uphold Judge Alexandre de Moraes’ decision to shut down social media platform X in the country.

Moraes, whom X owner Elon Musk has labeled a “dictator,” called a virtual meeting of the court’s first chamber — of which he is a member — so that peers could review his decision.

The Supreme Court of Brazil has 11 judges divided into two chambers of five members each, not including the Chief Justice. They can vote to uphold or reject the decisions of a single judge.

Judges Carmen Lucia, Luiz Fux, Cristiano Zanin and Flavio Dino sit in the first room with Moraes.

The X was shot down in Brazil, one of its biggest markets, in the early hours of Saturday following a decision by Moraes, who has been locked in a months-long feud with Musk.

The popular social media platform missed a court-imposed deadline late Thursday to appoint a legal representative in Brazil, as required by local law, triggering the suspension.

The dispute over X has its roots in a Moraes order earlier this year that required the platform to block accounts involved in investigations of alleged misinformation and hate.

Musk claimed Moraes was trying to impose undue censorship and closed X’s Brazil office in August without appointing a new representative. The judge insisted that social media needed hate speech regulations.

Moraes’ latest decision was upheld by Chief Justice Luis Roberto Barroso.

“A company that refuses to appoint a legal representative in Brazil cannot operate on Brazilian territory,” Barroso said in an interview with the newspaper Folha de S.Paulo, published on Sunday.