X Is back up and running in Brazil after it caved and paid a fine — because there are some battles Elon Musk can't win
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- X can operate in Brazil again, after an August ban over noncompliance with court orders.
- X's ban was lifted after it paid a $5.2 million fine and blocked flagged accounts.
- The platform said it would continue to defend free speech "within the boundaries of the law."
X's saga in Brazil is over after a legal standoff with the country's Supreme Court that started in August.
The Elon Musk-run social media platform will restart operations in Brazil after being banned on August 31, the company said in a Wednesday post on X.
The conflict between Musk and Brazil's judiciary began when Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered X, formerly known as Twitter, to block specific accounts associated with far-right groups and disinformation campaigns.
Musk refused to comply with the court's demands, framing the orders as censorship.
In August, de Moraes ordered X to stop operations in the country entirely, citing Musk's failure to adhere to the country's content moderation laws and its unwillingness to appoint a legal representative to handle government requests.
Along with the platform's suspension, the court levied $5.2 million in fines, ordering payment before X could resume operating.
Musk launched personal attacks on de Moraes and refused to comply with the court's orders. De Moraes retaliated by freezing bank accounts tied to Starlink, another Musk-owned company, and threatened legal action against X's local representatives.
The platform ultimately agreed to the fines on Friday. But its return to Brazil was further delayed after the court said that X had transferred the $5 million to the wrong bank. X's representatives told the court that the company correctly paid the fines.
On Tuesday, X was allowed to return to operation. The company blocked the accounts flagged by de Moraes and appointed a legal representative to respond to future government requests, Reuters reported Wednesday.
In X's Wednesday X post, the company said that it would continue to defend free speech "within the boundaries of the law."
The country is key to X's business — it's the sixth-largest market globally, with over 21.5 million users, Reuters reported in September.
"The move was pragmatic, likely driven by the economic consequences of losing access to millions of users," Matteo Ceurvels, an analyst at research firm eMarketer, told the Associated Press on Wednesday. eMarketer is owned by Business Insider's parent company, Axel Springer.
Before the Brazil suspension, X faced bans in several countries including China, where it has been banned since 2009 alongside other Western social media platforms.
X agreed to censor certain accounts ahead of Turkey's 2023 presidential election at the Turkish government's request. The company said at the time that it was a necessary move to prevent the entire platform from being suspended in the country.
X's approval for censorship or surveillance requests from governments rose from 50% to 83% after Musk bought the company, per an analysis from the technology media outlet Rest of World published last year.
X did not respond to a request for comment sent by Business Insider outside business hours.