X says he accidentally restored access to his platform in Brazil

The post said: “While we expect the platform to be inaccessible again shortly, we are continuing our efforts to work with the Brazilian government to return very soon for the people of Brazil.”

The Brazilian Association of Internet and Telecommunications Providers (ABRINT) said in a statement on Wednesday that access to the platform was temporarily restored following an overnight update.

X users who had the app on their phone in Brazil received an automatic update, ABRINT said, meaning they were now accessing X through IP addresses linked to cybersecurity firm Cloudfare. This made “locking the app much more complicated”, added the country’s trade group for internet service providers.

However, Basílio Rodriguez Pérez, advisor to ABRINT, said the BBC that X’s actions appeared intentional.

“Everything that happened during the day led us to believe it was intentional.” Perez said.

The incident takes place in the middle of a feud between Musk and Brazilian judge Alexandre de Moraes which focuses on content moderation and free speech concerns. X initially agreed to remove more than 100 accounts flagged for hate speech, disinformation and attacks on democracy, but said would “challenge the orders legally when possible”.

Musk then said in April that he was reversing the restrictions, saying in an X post that “principles matter more than profit.” Moraes responded that Musk would face a huge fine every time an account was reactivated, AFP reported.

Moraes also said the billionaire would be investigated for obstruction of justice after refusing to delete the accounts and content related to far-right groups. X was then banned in Brazil last month following an order from Moraes. In response, Musk closed X’s offices in Brazil and refused to comply with the order to appoint a legal representative in the country.

Supreme Court judge threatened Brazilians with daily fines of around $8,900 if they tried to bypass the ban by using VPNs to access the platform, The New York Times reported.

X did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider outside normal business hours.