Free Speech Costs $8,900 Every Day on X in Brazil

free speech costs

FREE SPEECH COSTS. Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes ruled that X users using VPNs would face $8,900/day fines. So “free” speech has gotten very expensive. The ban began on Saturday, after X (Twitter) refused to appoint a legal representative in the country.

Why would X avoid going to court in Brazil? Because its case could end up before the same Supreme Court that has tried to censor X. X owner Elon Musk has often criticized Justice de Moraes for demands to remove or suspend X accounts. In response, de Moraes says he is only trying to protect Brazil’s democracy. But what is democracy without free speech?

Previously, de Moraes rescinded his own order to ban downloading VPNs from Apple and Google stores. Already in May, a poll showed that 56% of Brazilians believed de Moraes was “exceeding the limits.” Only 27% disagreed with that statement.

With tweets muzzled, money talks

Notoriously, de Moraes supports Brazil’s ruling Workers’ Party (PT). And the PT keeps using X without apparent penalties to promote its candidates in the October elections. In the 2022 presidential elections, de Moraes not only censored posts about the elections. He ordered investigations of presidential candidate Jair Bolsonaro. And he jailed some of Bolsanaro’s supporters for “attacks on the nation’s democratic institutions.”

Top US hedge fund manager Bill Ackman recently used X to say this: “Brazil’s illegal shutdown of X and account freeze at Starlink put Brazil on a rapid path to becoming an uninvestable market.” Will the banning of this free speech platform now become too expensive for Brazil to continue? When a democratic people can’t speak, money may talk for them instead.

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