‘Brazil’s Darth Vader’ Orders Investigation Into Elon Musk After Defying X Court Order

Brazil’s activist Supreme Court justice Alexandre de Moraes has ordered an investigation into Elon Musk, after the billionaire vowed to defy a court order as part of an ongoing probe into social media accounts allegedly spreading misinformation and ‘hate’ speech.

“The flagrant conduct of obstruction of Brazilian justice, incitement of crime, the public threat of disobedience of court orders and future lack of cooperation from the platform are facts that disrespect the sovereignty of Brazil,” wrote de Moraes – who Musk called “Brazil’s Darth Vader” over the weekend.

Brazil’s Darth Vader!

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 7, 2024

While X initially said in a Saturday post that they would comply, blocking certain popular accounts in Brazil – Musk said an hour later, after the release of the “TWITTER FILES BRAZIL,” that they would not, noting that “As a result, we will probably lose all revenue in Brazil and have to shut down our office there.”

in a Sunday post, Musk said that Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes had “brazenly and repeatedly betrayed the constitution and people of Brazil,” and should “resign or be impeached.”

De Moraes said that as part of his decision to open an inquiry, that “X shall refrain from disobeying any court order already issued, including performing any profile reactivation that has been blocked by this Supreme Court,” Reuters reports.

The justice said that Musk would face a fine that equates to approximately $20,000 each time an account is reactivated on X.

For an overview:

BRAZIL IS ON THE BRINK

I’m reporting to you from Brazil, where a dramatic series of events are underway.

At 5:52 pm Eastern Time, today, April 6, 2024, X corporation, formerly known as Twitter, announced that a Brazilian court had forced it to “block certain popular accounts in… pic.twitter.com/GjdAgmkCBo

— Michael Shellenberger (@shellenberger) April 7, 2024

The TWITTER FILES BRAZIL, reported by investigative journalist Michael Shellenberger, and colleagues David Ágape and Eli Vieira, reveal that “Brazil is engaged in a sweeping crackdown on free speech led by a Supreme Court justice.”

Sitting members of Brazil’s Congress and journalists were among those named by Brazil’s highest court for censoring, Mr. Shellenberger said of his findings, which he has shared on X.

He named lower house members Carla Zambelli of former President Jair Bolsonaro’s Liberal Party and Marcel van Hattem of the NOVO party as targets of orders targeting posts the court deemed misinformation.

According to the internal files Mr. Shellenberger shared, Twitter in Brazil was threatened with a $30,000 fine. The company had one hour to remove the Congress members’ posts or pay the court for noncompliance.

The article reports that the justice had even been jailing individuals without trial for things posted on social media.

According to Mr. Shellenberger, Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes allegedly made demands to Twitter to allow access to its internal data, in violation of Twitter’s own policies on the handling of user data. -Epoch Times

The “Twitter Files” also show that the justice “sought to weaponize Twitter’s content moderation policies against supporters of then-president @jairbolsonaro,” Mr. Shellenberger said—a similar trend to what the “Twitter files” revealed was happening to former President Donald Trump and conservative voices in the United States.

The origin of the order to censor Brazilians’ posts was also revealed in the internal Twitter files, Mr. Shellenberger said.

Brazilian Attorney General Jorge Messias backed de Moraes, saying in a post on X: “We cannot live in a society in which billionaires domiciled abroad have control of social networks and put themselves in a position to violate the rule of law, failing to comply with court orders and threatening our authorities.”

In a Sunday evening post, Musk told users in Brazil that they can use a VPN to access X.

To ensure that you can still access the ð• platform, download a virtual private network (VPN) app https://t.co/ui55eq2KKp

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 7, 2024

Meanwhile, a cautionary tale for what Democrats want to do in the United States…

They want to stack the deck https://t.co/CnRNrraBGF

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 8, 2024

And an interesting thread…

We’re entering very interesting territory where non-state foreign actors can challenge state sovereignty in very direct ways /1 pic.twitter.com/NITERV9cij

— Auron MacIntyre (@AuronMacintyre) April 7, 2024

Continued…

This power has been available for a while of course, the GAE (Global American Empire) used it to manipulate many different color revolutions and the Arab spring, but that power has always been wielded by regime-aligned actors.

With Elon’s purchase of Twitter we see the possibility of a rogue elite who could deploy this power without prior regime approval. An information autocracy wielding its power independent from the GAE in the name of free speech

The GAE has been terrified of this possibility which is why it has been using all of the tricks it learned abroad to shutdown free speech at home @MikeBenzCyber has already done a great job laying this out on @TuckerCarlson.

No elite class worth its salt simply hands over power due to something ridiculous like an election so the name of the game in a liberal democracy where popular sovereignty is the legitimating mechanism of power is information control.

It’s impossible for voters to actually know everything they need to know to make an informed decision first hand so they rely on the media

If you control the information people receive you effectively control democracy.

Elon’s ability to unilaterally defy foreign governments in the name of a people he doesn’t know or represent is a huge threat to the sovereignty of the state.

This isn’t a knock on Elon, the Brazilian government seems horrible and I’m sure many people there support Elon’s actions.

But when analyzing the situation purely from a position of power politics it becomes clear what a threat this posses.

Modern states that want to continue to exist as a sovereign power can’t allow this.

Again many organizations aligned with the GAE got away with it because they were essentially protected by the might of the empire.

They were unofficial arms of the global hegemon.

Now many people believe Elon is in the tank with the regime and is only ever acting in their interests. I’m doubtful but that possibility can’t be dismissed.

But if he is willing to defy the GAE then Elon’s status as an unaccountable information autocrat actually makes him a big danger to the soft managerial oligarchies that operate the nations of the GAE.

In a world of democracies ruled by oligarchs skilled in information manipulation the greatest danger may be an unelected (corporate) dictator who is dedicated to free speech.