Brazil threatens to suspend X.
VergeSEP 2024
The Spin
Right narrative
Unelected authorities in Brazil have censored and repressed anyone opposing leftist leader Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and his allies ever since Jair Bolsonaro was in office. Blocking X nationwide is the latest — and certainly the most significant so far — attack against free speech in what was once a democratic country.
Left narrative
Social media companies must have a legal representative in Brazil to handle government takedown notices, so this ban is only natural after X removed all its employees from the country. This decision has nothing to do with free speech but everything to do with national sovereignty. Musk's social media platform is merely a coup machine serving US interests in the Global South.