Top Brazil court upholds ban of Musk's X

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Brazil's Supreme Court will vote on Monday on whether or not to uphold a ruling to ban social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.

Justice Alexandre Moraes called for the vote after the platform was suspended in the country in the early hours of Saturday.

It came after X failed to appoint a new legal representative in Brazil before a court-imposed deadline.

A feud between Justice Moraes and X's owner Elon Musk began in April when the judge ordered the suspension of dozens of accounts for allegedly spreading disinformation.

There are 11 justices in Brazil's Supreme Court, including the chief justice and two chambers of five members each. The chambers can vote on whether to uphold or reject rulings by any one of its judges.

Justice Moraes is a member of the first chamber that will be reviewing his decision to ban X.

So far, Mr Moraes and one more justice, Flávio Dino, have cast their votes. Both voted in favour of upholding the ban.

Justice Dino argued that "freedom of expression is closely linked to a duty of responsibility".

"The first can't exist without the second, and vice-versa," he added.

The three remaining justices have until midnight local time (03:00 GMT Tuesday) to vote.

Reacting to the decision to ban X, Mr Musk had earlier said: "Free speech is the bedrock of democracy and an unelected pseudo-judge in Brazil is destroying it for political purposes."

In his 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 R$50,000 ($8,910; £6,780).

X closed its office in Brazil last month, saying its representative had been threatened with arrest if she did not comply with orders it described as "censorship", which it said was illegal under Brazilian law.

Justice Moraes had ordered that X accounts accused of spreading disinformation - many of which belonged to supporters of the former right-wing president Jair Bolsonaro - must be blocked while they are under investigation.

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

With access to X blocked, many Brazilians have been turning to microblogging platform Bluesky as an alternative.

Bluesky announced on Saturday that it had registered half a million new users in the South American country over the two previous days alone.

Among those pointing followers to his Bluesky account was Brazil's president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who on Thursday tweeted links to his social media accounts on platforms other than X.

Lula's Bluesky profile was top of the list, which also included links to his Instagram, WhatsApp, Threads, TikTok and Facebook accounts.

Bluesky CEO Jay Graber expressed her delight at the influx of new users, posting in Portuguese and English: "Good job Brazil, you made the right choice."