On Wednesday (September 18), Supreme Court Minister Alexandre de Moraes ordered the social network X to immediately suspend new access through CDN, Cloudflare, Fastly, Edgeuno, and other similar servers allegedly created to circumvent the court’s decision to block the platform in Brazil, under penalty of a daily fine of R$ 5 million.
The Brazilian telecommunications regulatory agency, Anatel, notified the Court on Wednesday about the maneuver that updated the X app, which occurred in the last 24 hours, allowing users to access the platform’s services in the country, bypassing the blockade.
“There is no doubt, therefore, that the X platform — under the direct command of Elon Musk — intends once again to disrespect the Brazilian Judiciary, as Anatel uncovered the strategy used to disregard the court order issued in this case, including the suggestion of measures to be taken to maintain the suspension,” wrote Minister Alexandre de Moraes in the decision.
Furthermore, he ordered Anatel to immediately adopt all necessary measures to maintain the suspension of X’s operations in national territory. The agency must also suspend new access through the identified internet servers.
In the decision, Minister Alexandre de Moraes set a 24-hour deadline for Anatel to inform the Supreme Court what measures have been adopted and implemented to comply with the decision to block X in the country.
In a statement to the press, Anatel claims that user accessibility to the X network violates the court decision and clarifies that it had the active support of telecommunications providers and the company Cloudflare in identifying the mechanism that allowed the platform’s unblocking. The agency also reported possible measures that could be taken to correct the problem.
“The conduct of the X network demonstrates a deliberate intention to disregard the Supreme Court’s order. Any new attempts to bypass the blockade will warrant appropriate measures from the Agency,” says Anatel’s statement.
X stated that it did not intend to restore access for Brazilian users.
“When X was shut down in Brazil, our infrastructure to provide services to Latin America was no longer accessible to our team,” a company spokesperson told CNBC on Wednesday. “To continue providing excellent service to our users, we changed network providers. This change resulted in an inadvertent and temporary restoration of service for Brazilian users. While we expect the platform to become inaccessible in Brazil again soon, we continue efforts to work with the Brazilian government to return very soon to the people of Brazil.”
X has been blocked in Brazil since late August, following a decision by Minister Alexandre de Moraes. The suspension remains in effect until the network pays the fines and appoints a legal representative in the country.
Before the suspension, X had about 22 million users in Brazil.
Source: Agência Brasil and CNBC