SAO PAULO (AP) — Elon Musk’s satellite-based internet service provider Starlink backtracked Tuesday and said it will comply with a Brazilian Supreme Court justice’s order to block the billionaire’s social media platform, X.

Starlink said in a statement posted on X that it will heed Justice Alexandre de Moraes’ order despite him having frozen the company’s assets. Previously, it informally told the telecommunications regulator that it would not comply until de Moraes reversed course.

“Regardless of the illegal treatment of Starlink in freezing our assets, we are complying with the order to block access to X in Brazil,” the company statement said. “We continue to pursue all legal avenues, as are others who agree that @alexandre’s recent order violate the Brazilian constitution.”

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[–] 169 points 2 years ago (5 children)

Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face.

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    [–] 126 points 2 years ago (5 children)

    Pussy. Go on, Elon. Make your companies play chicken with a national government. I'm sure every other national government out there will definitely back you up, because making a company above the law (without paying the requisite bribes) is DEFINITELY something that national governments want to normalize!

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    [–] 89 points 2 years ago (3 children)

    Typical. Send the lawyers first to intimidate. Then get told you have no case. Then walk back tail between legs.

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    [–] 78 points 2 years ago (3 children)

    Elon Musk is picking fights with everyone these days.

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  • [–] 62 points 2 years ago

    Glad he got bitch-slapped on this one.

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  • [–] 51 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (29 children)

    That's a bummer. I was hoping EU countries would be inspired by Brazil to actually enforce some of their laws and ban Twitter as well.

    Edit: as vxx pointed out, there is a positive way to interpret this outcome, and I was probably being needlessly pessimistic.

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  • [–] 42 points 2 years ago* (1 child)

    Am I missing something? twitter is still blocked in brasil. The article is about starlink caving in and blocking it as well for brasilian users.

    EU might still block them once they decided he doesn't comply with the law, and fines didn't help.

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  • [–] 15 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 child)

    Sorry. To clarify what I meant: the "bummer" is that I want the situation with Starlink, Twitter, and Brazil to result in the permanent downfall of that dogshit site, and severe fines for Starlink so that other countries can look toward Brazil as an example of how to deal with the kinds of social media sites that allow disinformation to propagate.

    The fact that Starlink has agreed to comply takes off some of the heat, and therefore leaves some of the territory of fully exploring the legal ramifications of holding reich-wing billionaire freaks somewhat accountable for the shit that their companies do unexplored. Yeah, it's good that Twitter is still forbidden from operating in Brazil, but I would have liked for Musk to face more repercussions through Starlink as well.

    I hope that the EU still takes action against Twitter though, with or without any additional escalation involving Starlink.

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    [–] 47 points 2 years ago (9 children)

    They can think it violates the Brazilian constitution all they like, my understanding is that the supreme court already weighed in on the issue and that's the only opinion that matters in most countries.

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    [–] 33 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    How long until Elon throws a fit and fires people at Starlink until they ignore judge's orders?

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  • [–] 32 points 2 years ago (3 children)

    I'm guessing the Starlink investors had a chat with him about a potential breach of fiduciary duty lawsuit. That's a stupid concept but Musk isn't going to win if he deep sixes Starlink for his petty vendetta.

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    [–] 30 points 2 years ago

    Dude finally found an immovable object outside of US.

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  • [–] 21 points 2 years ago

    Loser losing again…

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  • [–] 13 points 2 years ago
    [–] 13 points 2 years ago* (3 children)

    Am I the only one surprised by this? The rich bitch didn't get away with something?

    Why? Like, why for real, not just "this is why this is happening based on the law, bla bla bla". The law doesn't apply to this prick.

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    [–] 12 points 2 years ago
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