X paid $5 million in fines to the wrong bank, the Brazilian court said

• X mistakenly transferred $5 million in fines to the wrong bank, Brazil’s Supreme Court said.
• The court required fair payment before X’s ban could be lifted nationwide.
• The platform was banned and fined for defying Brazil’s content moderation rules.

Elon Musk’s X just botched a $5 million payment in Brazil by transferring it to the wrong bank, according to Brazil’s Supreme Court, Reuters reported on Saturday.

This payment issue is the latest in a string of complications in Brazil for the company formerly known as Twitter.

In late August, Brazil’s Supreme Court banned the platform for failing to comply with orders related to content moderation and for failing to appoint a legal representative in the country.

The social media platform was also fined $5.2 million.

On Friday, X’s legal team filed documents showing they paid the fines. But the court said the money was sent to the wrong bank, Reuters reported. The court said the money had to be redirected to the correct account before it could consider lifting X’s ban in Brazil.

The company’s lawyers say the company has correctly paid the fines, Reuters reported, which is the last hurdle the company must clear before being allowed to resume operations in Brazil.

Brazil was one of X’s key markets, with about 21.5 million users, making it the sixth-largest user base for the platform, Reuters reported last month.

The platform’s legal issues in the country have sparked tensions over free speech issues between Musk and Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who was overseeing the case.

Musk, who has positioned himself as a defender of free speech, clashed with the court over what he saw as overreach, refused to comply with orders to remove content and launched personal attacks on de Moraes.

De Moraes responded by banning the platform in Brazil, issuing additional fines and threatening to arrest X’s legal representatives.

X and Brazil’s Supreme Court did not respond to Business Insider’s after-hours requests for comment.

X’s apparent payment gaffe isn’t the first of its kind — or even close to the biggest. In 2020, Citigroup accidentally sent $900 million to Revlon’s creditors. The bank spent the next two years in litigation trying to recover the funds, with 10 creditors refusing to return the sum, saying they believed they were owed the money.