Brazilian Supreme Court Panel Upholds Order to Block Elon Musk’s X

A panel of Brazilian Supreme Court justices voted on Monday to uphold a decision by one justice last week to block the social network X across the country because its owner, Elon Musk, refused to comply with court orders to suspend certain accounts.

The five-justice panel voted unanimously to back the order, issuing strongly worded opinions saying that the blackout of X complied with Brazilian law and that it was necessary to enforce the nation’s rules against a foreign company that was flouting them.

X “seems to believe it’s above the law,” wrote one justice, Flavio Dino. “Economic power and the size of a bank account do not give rise to outlandish immunity.”

The ban on X is the culmination of a monthslong feud between Mr. Musk and a Brazilian Supreme Court justice, Alexandre de Moraes, over what can be said online. Justice Moraes has said Mr. Musk is illegally obstructing his work to clean up the Brazilian internet and remove hate speech and attacks on democracy, while Mr. Musk says Justice Moraes is censoring free speech.

Monday’s vote was an important affirmation of the ban because Mr. Musk has criticized the action against his company as an abuse of power by a single, crusading judge. The panel’s ruling on Monday shows that four other Brazilian justices side with their colleague.

The vote gives the ban firmer legal standing, but it is likely to still head to the full court for a vote by all 11 justices. The court sometimes uses such panel votes to get a swifter review of important orders issued by single justices. Justice Moraes was of the five justices on the panel that voted Monday.

Justice Moraes said he blocked X because the company lacked a physical presence in Brazil. Mr. Musk closed X’s office in the country last month, after Justice Moraes threatened arrests for not complying with his orders to suspend certain X accounts. On Saturday, X began publishing some of Justice Moraes’ sealed orders, which did not appear to include explanations on why he was ordering those accounts to be suspended.

In his vote, Justice Dino compared Mr. Musk’s refusal to comply with court orders to suspend accounts to the operator of a private highway refusing to stop traffic to prevent the escape of a dangerous criminal. “Would it be reasonable for this company to choose whether or not to comply with the court order, arguing that stopping the highway would violate the criminal’s freedom of movement?” he asked.

There were some signs of discomfort with one part of Justice Moraes’s order: the threat to impose hefty fines on people in Brazil who employed common privacy software called virtual private networks, or VPNs, to circumvent the ban and use X.

Justice Luiz Fux said that people should not be fined unless they are using X to spread “racism, fascism or Nazism, obstruct criminal investigations or incite crimes in general.” He added that he might not vote in support of the order if it goes to the full court.

Justice Moraes slightly amended his order on Monday, adding that people would only face fines if they employed VPNs to use X and “engage in conduct that defrauds the court decision.” A Brazilin Supreme Court spokeswoman said that meant that Justice Moraes would only fine people who circumvented the ban to spread disinformation, hate speech or threats to democracy.

Justice Moraes has become perhaps Brazil’s most polarizing figure as he has undertaken a sweeping crackdown on vitriol on the internet, ordering social networks to remove thousands of posts over the last several years. Lawyers and academics have been split over his approach, but in recent days, even some of his defenders have criticized his proposal to fine people nearly $9,000 a day, or more than what the average Brazilian earns in a year, if they used VPNs to get around the ban.

Mr. Musk has continued to defy the Brazilian authorities. On Monday, he posted a string of criticisms of Justice Moraes, including a call for his imprisonment, and encouraged Brazilians to use VPNs to keep using X.

Starlink, the satellite-internet service controlled by Mr. Musk, is also refusing to comply with the order to block X in Brazil. Brazilian regulators said that Starlink told them on Sunday that it would not block the social network for its 250,000 customers in Brazil unless Brazilian officials unfroze its assets. Justice Moraes blocked Starlink from making transactions in Brazil in a bid to collect on more than $3 million fines he has issued against X, saying that the two companies are linked.

Mr. Musk and Starlink have called that move illegal and said the service would offer connectivity to its Brazilian customers for free until it can process transactions in the country again. Another Supreme Court justice blocked a petition from Starlink on Friday to overturn the sanctions.

Mr. Musk said he owns 40 percent of SpaceX, the private space company that runs Starlink. He controls the company by holding a majority of its voting shares.

By Monday afternoon in Brazil, as most internet providers had blocked X, the social network was still accessible using a Starlink connection.

Paulo Motoryn contributed reporting from Brasília.