Elon Musk’s X working in Brazil after outfoxing country’s ban

Some X users in Brazil have said they can once again access the social media website, the BBC has learned.

This comes after the platform, formerly known as Twitter, was banned in the country on 31 August.

The change was made possible after the company, which is owned by tech billionaire Elon Musk, moved their service to servers hosted by Cloudflare, according to ABRINT, the country’s leading trade group for Internet Service Providers (ISP).

The change makes it much harder to block applications on phones, the trade group said.

X, Cloudflare, and Brazil’s telecom agency Anatel have not responded to a request for comment.

A news release from ABRINT explains how Musk was able to outfox the country’s ban allowing people to access the platform.

It says the X app was updated overnight and the new software started using IP address linked through Cloudfare, which “makes app blocking much more complicated”.

“Unlike the previous system, which used specific, blockable IPs, the new system uses dynamic IPs that change constantly,” the news release states. “Many of these IPs are shared with other legitimate services, such as banks and large internet platforms, making it impossible to block an IP without affecting other services.”

The platform was banned in the country last month after failing to meet a court deadline to appoint a new legal representative in the country.

It marked the most significant development in a feud between Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes and Mr Musk that began in April, when the judge ordered the suspension of dozens of X accounts for allegedly spreading disinformation.

In his August ruling, Justice Moraes gave companies, including Apple and Google, a five-day deadline to remove X from its app stores and block its use on iOS and Android devices.

He added that individuals or businesses that are found to still be accessing X by using virtual private networks (VPNs) could be fined.

It’s unclear what response the country might have to the platform finding a way around the ban.

Brazil is said to be one of the largest markets for Mr Musk’s social media network.