X (formerly Twitter) has announced that it will close its office in Brazil “immediately” due to “censorship orders” from Federal Supreme Court Judge Alexandre Moraes.
The statement from the platform’s global government relations department indicated that the office closure was due to Moraes secretly threatening one of the company’s representatives in Brazil with arrest if “X” did not comply with an order to remove some profiles and content responsible for spreading false information.
“Despite ignoring our numerous appeals to the Supreme Court, failing to inform the Brazilian public of these orders, and having no responsibility or control over the removal of content on our platform, Moraes has chosen to threaten our employees in Brazil rather than respect the legal process,” the statement read.
X platform owner Elon Musk said the platform will shut down its local operations in Brazil, although the service will remain available to Brazilian users.