Starlink relents to Brazil, agrees to block Elon Musk’s X platform

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Starlink said it is complying with Brazil’s order to block Elon Musk’s X platform, backtracking from its earlier position that it would not block X until Brazilian officials released Starlink’s frozen assets. In an update on Tuesday afternoon, Starlink said it is blocking X while continuing to fight the asset freeze in court.

“Following last week’s order from [Supreme Court Judge Alexandre de Moraes] that froze Starlink’s finances and prevents Starlink from conducting financial transactions in Brazil, we immediately initiated legal proceedings in the Brazilian Supreme Court explaining the gross illegality of this order and asking the Court to unfreeze our assets,” SpaceX’s satellite broadband division said. “Regardless of the illegal treatment of Starlink in freezing of our assets, we are complying with the order to block access to X in Brazil. We continue to pursue all legal avenues, as are others who agree that @alexandre’s recent orders violate the Brazilian constitution.”

Starlink previously said that a Brazilian court order froze its assets “based on an unfounded determination that Starlink should be responsible for the fines levied—unconstitutionally—against X.” An Associated Press article said that “de Moraes froze Starlink’s accounts last week as a means to compel it to cover X’s fines that already exceeded $3 million, reasoning that the two companies are part of the same economic group.”