A Brazilian Supreme Court judge on Friday ordered the suspension of X (formerly Twitter) in Brazil.
This after Musk failed to comply with an order to name a new legal representative for the company.
On Wednesday, Moraes told Musk he had 24 hours to find a new representative, or he would face suspension.
Musk branded Judge Alexandre de Moraes an “evil dictator cosplaying as a judge” and accused him of “trying to destroy democracy in Brazil.”
“Free speech is the bedrock of democracy and an unelected pseudo-judge in Brazil is destroying it for political purposes,” Musk wrote on X.
Moraes ordered the “immediate, complete and comprehensive suspension of the operation” of X, telling the national communications agency to take “all necessary measures” to implement the order within 24 hours.
He threatened a fine of 50 000 reais ($8 900) for anyone who used “technological subterfuges” to get around the block, such as a VPN.
He also demanded Google, Apple and internet providers to “introduce technological obstacles capable of preventing the use of the X application” and access to the website. He later retracted this order.
X has more than 22 million users in Brazil.
The process began when Moraes ordered the suspension of the X accounts of supporters of Brazil’s former president Jair Bolsonaro, who tried to discredit the voting system in the 2022 election, which he lost.
In April, Moraes ordered an investigation of Musk, accusing him of reactivating some of the banned accounts.
“Any citizen from anywhere in the world who has investments in Brazil is subject to the Brazilian Constitution and laws,” President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva told a local radio station on Friday.
“Who does (Musk) think he is?”