Brazil’s Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes has ordered a social media platform to pay 8.1 million Brazilian reais ($1.4 million) in fines for failing to comply with judicial orders. The ruling, signed on Wednesday and made public by the court on Thursday, stated that the platform refused to provide registration data for a profile attributed to an ally of former President Jair Bolsonaro accused of spreading falsehoods.
In July 2024, Justice De Moraes had ordered the platform to block and ban the account and provide the data. The platform claimed it had blocked the account but could not provide the requested information, citing that its operators did not collect it and that the user had no technical connection point with Brazil.
Despite the platform's argument, De Moraes rejected it and imposed a daily fine of 100,000 Brazilian reais ($17,500) for noncompliance. By October, the total fine had accumulated to 8.1 million Brazilian reais. The platform initially appealed the decision but later informed the court of its intention to pay the fine.
In the recent ruling, Justice De Moraes ordered the company to pay the full amount immediately. It remains unclear whether the platform provided the requested registration data as per the court's order. The company did not respond to requests for comment from the media.
Last year, De Moraes had ordered a nationwide shutdown of the platform after it announced the removal of all Brazil-based staff, following alleged threats to its legal representative in the country. The platform was reinstated a month later after complying with court orders to block specific accounts, appoint an official legal representative, and pay fines for previous noncompliance.
Elon Musk, the owner of the social media platform, and Justice De Moraes have been engaged in a public dispute over issues related to free speech, far-right accounts, and misinformation. Musk has criticized the judge, calling him an enemy of free speech and a criminal. However, De Moraes' decisions have consistently been upheld by his judicial peers, including the nationwide block of the social media platform.
