Elon Musk announces the closure of the social network's office

The move comes in the wake of demands by Alexandre de Moraes, a judge in Brazil's Supreme Court, who is said to have asked for secret surveillance and disclosure of private information.

In addition, X said in a statement that Moraes had secretly threatened to arrest one of his legal representatives in Brazil.If you do not comply with court orders to remove certain content from the platform.

The reasons for the closure are due to the judicial request imposed by De Moraes, which put X in a position where he had to act against the legislation of various countries.

According to a statement from X posted on its own social network, De Moraes does not respect “the law or due process,” as he has issued censorship orders to remove content from the platform.

The platform added that: “His (De Moraes') actions are inconsistent with a democratic government.”The statements are part of a court ruling issued Friday in which X was again ordered to delete several profiles.

Musk explained on his X account that the decision to close the office in Brazil was “difficult,” but necessary to avoid actions that could be embarrassing to the company and its values. He added, “If we had agreed to these (illegal) demands for secret surveillance and the handover of private information, there would be no way to explain our actions without feeling ashamed.”

X notes that Moraes secretly threatened one of his legal representatives in Brazil with arrest if he did not comply with court orders to remove certain content from his platform. Also, Brazil's Supreme Federal Court, where Moraes sits, has not yet ruled on the case, at the request of Reuters.

The social network added in the statement that the judge explained that the company did not comply with the orders previously issued and stressed that if it did not comply with them, His representative in that country will face a daily fine of 20,000 Brazilian reals (about $3,600) and imprisonment for contempt.

However, despite the closure of the Brazilian office, the platform will remain available to users in Brazil, as we reported last Saturday. The company stressed that this measure is aimed at “protecting” its employees.

De Moraes is a judge in Brazil’s Supreme Court, responsible for investigating the spread of fake news. Furthermore, when he was president of the Supreme Electoral Court, It ordered the removal of hundreds of posts on X that questioned the validity of Brazil's electoral system in the context of elections two years ago.

In addition, the public servant is leading another investigation against the former president of this country between 2019 and 2022, Jair Bolsonaro, for his alleged influence in the coup attempt after his defeat in the last elections by Lula da Silva.

These actions by De Moraes have drawn criticism from the former president's followers and accusations from far-right factions.

Argentine President Javier Milei referred to this conflict on his X account by reposting a post that read: “Last night, Alexandre de Moraes, X’s legal representative in Brazil, threatened him with arrest if he did not comply with his orders to censor accounts (one of which was Fernando Seremedo’s). To protect the safety and security of the team, Elon Musk made the decision to immediately close all of his operations in Brazil. At that time, Foreign Minister Diana Mondino, along with Javier Milei, made the Argentine embassy available as a refuge for X employees who were facing imprisonment. Elon Musk was grateful at the time, but they decided to leave the country.”

For his part, Argentine businessman Fernando Ceremedo, one of Milei's campaign strategists, also expressed his position with an X against the Brazilian judge. “De Moraes, you will end up in prison. There is no corner of the world where you can turn, you have destroyed entire families. You have taken over Brazilian democracy and managed freedom of expression as you wish…”