Brazil says X bypassed Supreme Court’s blockage

MEXICO CITY

The National Telecommunications Agency of Brazil (Anatel) reported Thursday that X deliberately ignored a Supreme Court order to block the social network.

"The behavior of Network X demonstrates a deliberate intention to ignore the (Supreme Court's) order. Any new attempt to circumvent the blockage will require the Agency to take appropriate measures," according to a statement by the telecommunications body.

The company owned by US billionaire Elon Musk managed to evade the blockage on Sept. 18 by using third-party servers. Media reports claim Musk relied on the American company, Cloudflare, which provides networking and cybersecurity products, to use its IP addresses.

The breach was sealed once notified, however, and X's services were again blocked in Brazil.

The platform asserted that the bypass of Brazil's block was unexpected and involuntary, according to the company’s Global Government Affairs team.

"When X was shut down in Brazil, our infrastructure to provide service to Latin America was no longer accessible to our team. To continue providing optimal service to our users, we changed network providers. This change resulted in an inadvertent and temporary service restoration to Brazilian users," it wrote on X.

Although some Brazilian media reports said the Supreme Court will impose fines of up to 5 million reals ($920,000) for the infringement, no official announcement has been made on this matter.

The feud between Musk and the Brazilian government dates to 2022 when the Supreme Court, led by Alexandre Moraes, ordered X to block profiles that had allegedly spread misinformation regarding the electoral victory of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, and incite anti-democratic behavior.