Since Saturday, tension has been rising between billionaire Elon Musk and Brazil’s Supreme Court judge, Alexandre de Moraes. Accusations of “censorship” and “dictatorship”, investigation for “alleged criminal exploitation” of the social network X and request for “public debate”… 20 minutes make the point.
A “censorship” of Bolsonaro supporters at the origin of the clash?
It all started after American journalist and activist Michael Shellenberger accused the Brazilian magistrate of “censorship of messages from parliamentarians” and supporters of ex-far-right president Jair Bolsonaro (2019-2022). Alexandre de Moraes, one of the eleven members of the Brazilian Supreme Court, is spearheading the fight against disinformation in Brazil. In recent years, he has ordered the blocking of accounts of influential figures on social media due to misinformation, most of them supporters of Jair Bolsonaro.
He had notably suspended the account of ex-deputy Daniel Silveira, sentenced in 2022 to prison (before being pardoned) after declaring in a video that he would like to see members of the Supreme Court “beat up in the street “.
Judge Moraes also presides over the Superior Electoral Tribunal (TSE), the same body that declared Bolsonaro ineligible in June 2023 for disseminating false information about the Brazilian electoral system.
On Saturday, Elon Musk, boss of “We will probably lose all our revenue in Brazil and have to close our offices there. But principles are more important than profit,” he insisted. Since that evening, Elon Musk has launched a series of attacks on the social network against the Brazilian magistrate.
Musk demands the “resignation” of the Brazilian judge who responds with an “investigation”
On Sunday, the billionaire returned to the charge, saying that Judge Alexandre de Moraes should “resign or be removed” for having “brazenly and repeatedly betrayed the constitution and the people of Brazil”.
The Supreme Court judge did not respond via social networks but ordered the same day the opening of an investigation against Elon Musk for “incitement to crime” and “obstruction of justice”. In a legal ruling, the magistrate referred to an alleged “criminal exploitation of X” on the part of the billionaire, who is also boss of Space X and Tesla. He also added his name to the list of personalities targeted by another investigation already underway, on the supposed “digital militias”: a group of close collaborators of Jair Bolsonaro suspected of having orchestrated online disinformation campaigns during his presidency.
He also ordered “the social network euros) per reactivated profile.
A request for “public debate”
The story could have ended there… But that would have been a poor understanding of Elon Musk. He returned to the charge on Monday and challenged Alexandre de Moraes to a public debate. On the platform he owns, he tweeted, in the tone of a duel provocation: “What do you say, @Alexandre? Let’s debate this for real.”
He added more on Tuesday, still on X: “How did @Alexandre de Moraes become the dictator of Brazil? He has Lula on a leash. » “The law applies to everyone, including @Alexandre. He should be judged for his crimes,” insisted Elon Musk on the social network.
Last year, he called for an MMA (mixed martial arts) fight against Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg, one of his main competitors, launching a skirmish which ignited the networks.
Two camps clashing
Faced with this story, users of the social network fear a suspension of the platform in the country. Others compare this clash to that between Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg, which was to be “settled” around a fight in a ring which ultimately never saw the light of day. “I would be willing to pay to see this fight” Musk-Moraes, wrote one of them on supreme, was at the top of the trending topics on Monday.
On the political side, ultra-conservative figures launched a manifesto in defense of Elon Musk and his call for the dismissal of Alexandre de Moraes. Former head of state Jair Bolsonaro notably declared: “Elon Musk is our salvation, our democracy is in danger.” The billionaire’s attacks against Judge Moraes were also widely relayed online by accounts linked to the Brazilian far right.
But many voices were also raised to support the magistrate. Supreme Court President Luis Roberto Barroso said in a statement that “any company that operates in Brazil is subject to the constitution.” “Judicial decisions can be appealed, never deliberate disobedience,” he insisted. The President of the Senate, Rodrigo Pacheco, said for his part that the regulation of social networks was “inevitable”. “It’s not censorship […]these are rules for the use of these platforms,” he explained
Shortly after the first attacks by the Tesla boss against the judge on Saturday, Jorge Messias, the Attorney General of the Union, responsible for defending the interests of the Lula government, called for “urgently regulating social networks”.