Social media companies at odds with national sovereignty: Standoff between X, South American states

By Dilara Karatas

ISTANBUL (AA) - US billionaire Elon Musk's X social media platform has recently been at odds with several countries, with X's dispute with two populous South American countries, Brazil and Venezuela, being the most recent examples.

With the increasing development of technology, more than 5 billion people around the world have become social media users. While these interactive and multidimensional platforms for communication and information sharing provide instant information flow globally, they sometimes become the subject of controversy for contradicting local legislation, laws and sovereign rights.

The owners of social media platforms, which have become increasingly powerful in cyberspace, are also trying to shape and direct public opinion.

The most striking example of this is the way Musk has used X to publicize his views in these conflicts.

Musk has used X to comment on political developments both in the US and around the world, engaging in a debate with the Venezuelan president over the elections, and in Brazil, challenging binding laws and accusing a Supreme Court judge of censorship.

In the first part of the dossier, titled Social media companies at odds with national sovereignty, Anadolu compiled the problems X has experienced with the Brazilian and Venezuelan governments and the measures taken by South American countries.

- Musk withdraws X's representative in Brazil

X, one of the most preferred social media platforms in the world, has been inaccessible since late August in Brazil, where it has more than 20 million active users.

The Brazil-X dispute began in April when Brazilian Supreme Court Judge Alexandre de Moraes ordered the suspension of hundreds of X accounts for spreading disinformation about the January 2023 raid on the Congress Palace by far-right Jair Bolsonaro supporters.

Musk initially reacted but ultimately complied with Moraes' decision. Then, in April, Moraes asked X to block several accounts accused of spreading misinformation about Bolsonaro's defeat in the 2022 general election.

This time, Musk announced that they would not comply with this request, arguing that the X representative was “threatened with arrest” if he did not comply with “censorship orders” in Brazil, and announced that he had decided to close his office in that country immediately.

- Fines imposed on X were collected from Starlink and X's frozen accounts

Under Brazilian law, foreign companies doing business in Brazil must have a legal representative in the country who acts as a bridge between the company and local authorities. The legal representative has the authority to sign contracts on behalf of the foreign entity, conduct legal investigations, and accept legal subpoenas.

Musk's platform was operating in the country with a local legal representative and office in line with Brazilian law.

However, after X withdrew its representative in the country, the Brazilian Supreme Court gave the company 24 hours to make a new appointment, announcing that otherwise access to the platform would be banned. However, X failed to appoint a legal representative within the given deadline.

The court then banned access to the social media platform X in the country, stating that this decision would be valid until a representative was appointed and fines were paid.

After Musk announced that they would not comply with the decision, Starlink, the satellite internet system owned by Musk, announced that it would allow its 250,000 users in Brazil to continue using X, but reversed this decision after assets of the companies were frozen.

Brazil then decided to collect fines from the frozen accounts of Starlink and X.

Musk harshly responded to the move, saying: “There is no legal basis for this whatsoever. Starlink is a different company with different shareholders. Moraes, the charlatan in judges' robes, cannot even cite a law that Starlink has broken!”

On Sept. 13, the Supreme Court announced the collection of the total fine from the frozen accounts and ordered the lifting of the freeze on Starlink and X's bank accounts.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva also reacted to Musk's stance against local legislation in Brazil, commenting that the world does not have to tolerate his “extreme right-wing views” because he is rich.

- Musk's ‘election rigged’ reaction ignites spark

Venezuela was another South American country that Musk got into a controversy with.

From July 27 to August 1, Musk made 32 direct posts against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on his X account and made indirect posts by responding to other users.

After Maduro won the presidential election in his country for the third time on July 28, Musk argued that “the election was rigged” and took this view to X with harsh comments directly targeting Maduro, sparking the war of words between the two.

Musk, who openly supported Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado in his posts on X, reposted the post in which Argentine President Javier Milei described Maduro as a “dictator” with the phrase “Shame on you, dictator Maduro.”

In another post, the US billionaire wrote: “I'm coming for you, Maduro. I'll take you to Gitmo (Guantanamo Bay) on a donkey.” His use of the expression was also met with reaction from many users.

In response, Maduro declared Musk Venezuela's “archenemy” and said: “Do you want a fight, Elon Musk? I am ready, I am the son of Bolivar, the son of Chavez, I am not afraid of you.”

Musk responded sarcastically, saying that if he won the duel, he would ask Maduro to resign from the dictatorship and send him to Mars for free with SpaceX.

On August 9, Maduro ordered a 10-day access ban on X, with the phrase “Get out of Venezuela for 10 days, X. Get out, Elon Musk.”

- Is X politically neutral?

When Musk tried to buy Twitter in April 2022, he argued that he did so because Twitter had failed to fulfill its potential as a “platform for free speech.”

Shortly after buying Twitter, Musk emphasized that the platform needed to be “politically neutral to deserve the public's trust.”

However, experts believe that Musk, who has the most followers on X with 196.6 million, is increasingly using the social media platform as a microphone to spread his political views.

*Writing by Efe Ozkan