(RepublicanDaily.org) – Controversial billionaire businessman Elon Musk is facing an investigation in Brazil over claims that he allowed the promotion of fake news in the country.
The order that Musk be investigated, which came down from Brazil’s Supreme Court, follows a statement from the businessman that he would reinstate Twitter / X accounts that a supreme court judge had previously ordered blocked.
The order came from Judge Alexandre de Moraes, who is conducting an investigation into “digital militias.” These are online groups said to be responsible for the dissemination of fake news and false information during the tenure of former Brazilian far-right president Jair Bolsonaro. Bolsonaro is facing multiple investigations on a variety of issues, chief of which is an alleged plot to overthrow the government following his loss in the country’s 2022 national elections.
Since acquiring Twitter in October 2022, the entrepreneur changed the name of the platform to X, and changed the site’s rules on what kind of content is allowed on it. Musk has always advocated an absolutist approach to free speech, and has reinstated a number of accounts that were previously blocked on the platform. These accounts – largely belonging to conservative personalities – included those of former president Donald Trump and outspoken political and social commentator Alex Jones.
Still, it is unclear when exactly the order was issued, nor has the Brazilian government nor Musk disclosed what accounts were ordered banned, who these accounts were connected to, and why the Brazilian Supreme Court ordered them blocked.
Musk has repeatedly called out Judge Moraes, for what he called a “brazen and repeated” betrayal of the Brazilian people and the country’s constitution. The electric car mogul has also called on Moraes to resign. Musk also claims that X could “shut down” its operations in Brazil following sanctions and penalties imposed by Moraes.
But at the end of the day, Musk said, “principles matter more than profit.”
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