Brazilian top court judge suspends Musk's X in 'fake news' crusade

Brazil's telecommunications regulator said on Friday it was suspending access to Elon Musk's X social network in the country to comply with an order from a judge who has been locked in a months-long feud with the billionaire investor.

The popular social media platform missed a court-imposed deadline on Thursday evening to name a legal representative in Brazil, triggering the suspension.

Musk has argued that Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes was trying to enforce unjustified censorship, while the judge has insisted that social media needs hate speech regulations.

"They're shutting down the #1 source of truth in Brazil," Musk said in a post on X on Friday.

The judge's ruling could cause X to lose one of its largest and most coveted markets, at a time when Musk has struggled with advertising revenue for the platform.

X remained accessible in Brazil late on Friday, though some Brazilians posted on other platforms that their access to X was already being blocked. Three of the country's top telecommunications carriers said they would begin blocking access from midnight (0300GMT on Saturday), according to a report by local news outlet UOL.

Brazilian judge Alexandre de Moraes's decision to shut down billionaire Elon Musk's social media platform X is just the latest chapter in a no-holds-barred crusade against perceived attacks on democracy and the political use of disinformation.

Moraes ordered telecomunications regulator Anatel to implement the suspension order, and to confirm to the court within 24 hours that