No Elon, X Being Banned In Brazil Is Not Illegal, Or In Breach Of Free Speech
No Elon, X Being Banned In Brazil Is Not Illegal, Or In Breach Of Free Speech
In fact, it's actually helping to protect freedom, democracy and free speech.
I recently covered Telegram’s CEO Pavel Durov’s arrest for the lack of moderation on his platform, leading to vast amounts of illegal misinformation and even child pornography spreading on it, and how this should be a massive warning for Musk. You see, X/Twitter has the same issue as Telegram. Musk has gutted the platform’s moderation team, leading to a dramatic increase in hate speech and misinformation. As such, I predicted that he would risk similar legal repercussions if he didn’t start actively moderating the platform. Well, I might have to start a fortune-telling business because I was right. Brazil suspended X/Twitter over the weekend for refusing to moderate the platform or even engage in the Brazilian legal system under the guise of protecting free speech. But, all is not what it seems. You see, the Brazilian legal system is actually protecting the nation’s freedom, democracy and free speech from Musk. Let me explain.
This all started back in April of this year, when the Brazilian Supreme Court ordered X/Twitter to comply with government orders to suspend accounts that had spread misinformation and hate speech supporting ex-president Bolsonaro. X/Twitter refused to comply and, last month, closed its Brazilian office, stating that its representative had been threatened with arrest if they did not comply with orders, which the company described as “censorship”, and “illegal under Brazilian law”. This resulted in the Brazilian Supreme Federal Court opening a criminal inquiry against Musk for spreading misinformation and alleged obstruction of investigations. The court also issued X/Twitter a deadline to appoint a new legal representative to allow procedures to continue. That deadline came and went, and Musk failed to appoint a new representative. So, Justice Alexandre de Moraes suspended X/Twitter from Brazil and even set a fine of 50,000 Brazilian reais ($8,900) per day for anyone using VPNs to access the site. On Monday, the 2nd of September, the 11 Justices of the Supreme Court voted to uphold the ban, with one of the judges claiming X/Twitter ‘considered itself above the rule of law.
Justice de Moraes’s actions might seem brash. But you have to remember the political context of Brazil. The country is currently recovering from Bolsonaro’s leadership.
Bolsonaro was an extreme right-wing fascist leader. He pushed anti-human rights laws. He riled up his supporters to riot and murder for him. He pushed misogynistic, racist and homophobic narratives, once even claiming black people “should go back to the zoo.” He spread a lot of misinformation to manipulate the narrative in his favour and would then threaten journalists, academics and scientists critical of his misinformation. He intimidated political critics and rivals to silence them. He even attempted a coup d’etat when he lost the election, and further investigation found he was planning a self-coup with the military to solidify himself as dictator either way. As such, he has been banned from seeking office until 2030 for attempting to undermine the validity of the election through his unfounded claims of voter fraud and for abusing his power by using government communication channels to promote his campaign and allege fraud.
This is just scraping the surface of how deleterious Bolsonaro is. But, put simply, he is a more toxic version of Trump, except he is actually competent enough to put his heinous ideology into action.
The main reason Bolsonaro could grab and hold on to power was misinformation. He did the classic fascist stance of a false “us vs them”, a narrative that can only thrive if its critics are drowned out with copious amounts of misinformation, threats, marginalisation and hate speech. Well, Brazilians have been paying the hefty price for allowing someone like Bolsonaro to seize power and are now trying to tackle those pushing this kind of misinformation and hate speech to protect their democracy. After all, a democracy is only fair and free if those voting have accurate information.
With this context, Justices de Moraes’s actions seem far more justifiable. Brazil’s democracy and freedoms are recovering and need protection from bad actors like these X/Twitter accounts. If Musk is unwilling to even engage with such protective measures, then X/Twitter is too dangerous to allow, as, in its current guise, it empowers these bad actors.
But, of course, Musk didn’t see it like this. After X was banned, Musk accused de Moraes of “brazenly and repeatedly betraying the constitution and people of Brazil.” He went on to tweet (xeet?) that “Free speech is the bedrock of democracy, and an unelected pseudo-judge in Brazil is destroying it for political purposes.”
So, is any of that true? Is Musk right here?
No. Not even slightly.
Firstly, Justice de Moraes was a previously elected official appointed by a democratically elected president to the position of Justice of the Supreme Federal Court, which is technically higher than a judge. Calling him an unelected pseudo-judge is a profoundly misleading statement that is a stone’s throw away from slander.
Secondly, de Moraes’ actions didn’t breach Brazil’s constitution. In fact, his ruling would have been allowed in pretty much all Western democracies.
Why? Because publication is not a part of free speech, and no country on Earth has absolute free speech laws. You see, social media isn’t integral to free speech, just as the press wasn’t considered a part of free speech back when free speech laws were written. In other words, you can say whatever you want, but that doesn’t mean people or companies have to listen to or publish your speech. However, the kinds of speech de Moraes was trying to block also aren’t protected by Brazilian free speech laws. Brazil’s constitution of expression is not absolute and doesn’t protect speech that is misinformation, hate speech, moral harassment, bullying, child pornography or fraud. These Bolsonaro-supporting misinformation accounts de Moraes ordered to be suspended fell under the misinformation, hate speech, and possibly even fraud categories.
If you even sit and think about it for more than a second, it makes sense why the right to publication and absolute free speech is simply not a thing in the modern democratic capitalist world. It can lead to mass voter manipulation, market manipulation and fraud. All things which damage our prosperity, freedom and ability to self-govern through democracy. This is basic and provable political and ethical theory. So, not only are de Moraes’ actions entirely legal, but they are also ethical and in the service of protecting freedom, democracy and actual freedom of speech.
Hence, even though I, personally, believe an outright ban and fines for VPN users who access the site goes too far, I don’t condemn these actions as illegal. Particularly as de Moraes only enacted said ban after months of Musk refusing to engage in the Brazilian legal system in an attempt to dodge accountability, leaving authorities very few options to exercise their legal right over X/Twitter.
So, why is Musk doing all of this?
It’s not because he loves freedom and democracy. He isn’t willing to protect these in wider society, and even backs those who directly oppose them. Moreover, his toxic iron grip over his companies shows he doesn’t practice these values either. Well, if you actually look at what Musk has done over the past 30 years, you will find countless times when Musk has manipulated people and the market. In fact, a long line of people have sued him for the likes of stock market manipulation and even fraud. This is his real motive. He wants a place where he can say what he wants and have millions hang on his every word, without any accountability, to further his wealth and power.
As such, making a big hullabaloo over de Moraes’s actions against X/Twitter works massively in his favour. To the uninformed, it sounds like Musk is fighting the good fight for freedom, and as such, Musk will likely gain support. However, in reality, Musk is actively working to undermine the checks, balances and accountability that make our free, democratic and capitalist society work. This approach to gaining power isn’t new and was used by the likes of Hitler, Mussolini, Putin and Bolsonaro. I hope that we, as a species, have learnt the lessons from history, and see Musk’s actions for what they really are, and protect the freedoms we experience today from him, and those he enables.
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Sources: BBC, The Indepedent, BBC, Social Media Today, Will Lockett, The Loop, The Guardian