A Brazilian Supreme Court judge has initiated an inquiry into Elon Musk following the billionaire’s announcement that he would reactivate accounts on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter), which the judge had ordered to be blocked.
Musk’s posts on the platform claimed that the restrictions had been lifted due to the court order being deemed unconstitutional. He further called for Justice Alexandre de Moraes to resign or face impeachment.
Failure by X to comply with the order will result in a daily fine of 100,000 reais ($19,774; £15,670).
In his ruling, Justice Moraes accused Musk of spearheading a disinformation campaign against the Supreme Court.
X’s Global Government Affairs team stated that they were not permitted to disclose which accounts were impacted. However, Musk later declared that “X will publish everything demanded by [Moraes] and how those requests violate Brazilian law.”
The targeted profiles are believed to be associated with far-right movements that posted content linked to riots on January 8th of the previous year, when supporters of Brazil’s former President Jair Bolsonaro stormed the country’s Congress, Supreme Court, and presidential palace.
Justice Moraes has gained attention for his decisions to restrict social media platforms within the country. He is also investigating Bolsonaro and his supporters for their alleged involvement in an attempted coup d’état.
On Saturday, the former president shared a video of a meeting he had with Musk in May 2022.