Brazil’s Supreme Court announced on Tuesday that it has lifted the ban on Elon Musk’s social media platform X, which had been blocked for over a month in its largest Latin American market due to a dispute over disinformation.
Judge Alexandre de Moraes authorized the “immediate return of the platform’s activities” after X paid millions of dollars in fines for failing to comply with a series of court orders. He also gave Brazil’s communications regulator 24 hours to restore access to X for its millions of users in the country.
The standoff between Moraes and Musk began over a surge of online disinformation related to Brazil’s 2022 election. In August, tensions escalated when Moraes blocked X for refusing to remove several right-wing accounts accused of spreading disinformation and for not appointing a new legal representative in Brazil.
The dispute, which raised global concerns over balancing freedom of expression with corporate responsibility, drew widespread attention.
Musk angrily labeled Moraes an “evil dictator,” but X eventually complied with all of the court’s demands to have the suspension lifted. Last week, Moraes confirmed that the platform had settled approximately $5.2 million in fines.