Google and Apple are among the companies that have been given five days to remove Elon Musk’s X social media platform from their app stores in Brazil, and to block it on iOS and Android devices.

It is the latest blow for Musk, who stands accused of turning X into his personal plaything to spread far right wing disinformation.

Brazil’s Supreme Court upheld a ban on X, with the panel of five judges voting unanimously.

In August X removed its legal representative from Brazil “on the grounds that [Supreme Court Justice Alexandre] de Moraes had threatened her with arrest”, according to ABC TV in the US.

De Moraes gave the platform 24 hours to appoint a new representative, or face a shutdown.

The social media company was banned on the weekend after it failed to appoint a legal representative by the time a court-imposed deadline had elapsed. 

The BBC reports that the “feud between de Moraes and [Musk] … began in April, when the judge ordered the suspension of dozens of accounts for allegedly spreading disinformation”.

Justice de Moraes had subsequently called for the five-member panel of judges to rule on the suspension.

Per BBC: “One of the justices, Flávio 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’.”

Musk said: “Free speech is the bedrock of democracy and an unelected pseudo-judge in Brazil is destroying it for political purposes.”

 

Elon Musk tweet on X.

 

In July the European Union charged Musk over content he allowed to be published on X. If the charges stick Musk could face fines of up to 6% of X’s global revenue.

Given the backlash Musk has faced from advertisers since he bought the company in 2022, and the low quality of many of the ads that infest X feeds, that 6% today would be worth a lot less than when Musk decided he wanted X.

And yet still a princely sum.

Statista says Twitter/X’s ad revenue peaked in 2022 at US$4.73 billion (A$7 billion). It estimates that in 2024 revenue will be down to US$3.1 billion (A$4.6 billion), and by 2027 it will be US$2.7 billion (A$4 billion).

Six per cent of US$3.1 billion is US$186 million. That’s four times what Musk reportedly promised – then reportedly unpromised – Donald Trump, to help get Trump reelected to the White House. The latest status on the promise is unknown.

In Australia the e-safety commissioner attempted earlier this year to hold Musk to account for allowing videos of an alleged church attack in Sydney to be widely spread on X. The videos and related posts were ultimately taken down on Australian X, but the commissioner sought an injunction in the federal court to remove the tweets altogether. 

The case was later dropped.

On Tuesday afternoon Sydney-time Musk was tweeting about the ruling.

“Turns out that the evil dictator Morones is in fact a very evil dictator and has banned VPNs,” Musk wrote, apparently referring to the judge incorrectly.

Individuals or businesses accessing X by using VPNs could be fined about A$12,000.