This Tuesday a hacker called Azael claimed responsibility for the attack suffered by the computer systems of the Federal Supreme Court, the Federal Police and the National Communications Agency of Brazil. CyberHunters justified its action as a response to the decision of the magistrate Alexandre de Moraes to block access to the X network in the South American country.
CyberHunters used a distributed denial of service attack or DDoS, which is an overload due to the number of accesses usually made by robots. Although the system crash did not last ten minutes, it was full of symbolism: the website of the Barci de Moraes law firm, run by the judge’s wife, was also attacked. In addition, the hacker Azael gave the information exclusively to the YouTube channel Mundo Polarizado, whose presenter is linked to Jair Bolsonaro’s Liberal Party.
The attack by CyberHunters, a group that claims to fight corruption in countries governed by the left, reveals new horizons of the head-on confrontation between Elon Musk and the Brazilian justice system. The extreme right denounces the censorship of freedom of expression to strengthen its agenda and regain strength. Some heavyweights of Bolsonarism use the social network X with VPN, disobeying the court order. At least eight senators use X, circumventing the restriction, to attack Moraes and President Lula da Silva.
Flávio Bolsonaro, son of the former president, asked on the said network indictment de Moraes, claiming that the Supreme Court “is the great cancer of Brazilian democracy.” Senator Marcos do Val, whose account was not blocked by X after the anti-democratic incidents of January 8, 2023, continues to tweet as if nothing had happened. Sérgio Moro, the former judge who illegally maneuvered to imprison Lula da Silva, also joined in the disobedience of Hamilton Mourão, reserve general and vice president of Jair Bolsonaro, went a little further: he attacked Lula by spreading a hoax about an alleged tribute by the government to the Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra during the parade on September 7, Brazil’s Independence Day.
Musk’s revolt has also been met by lawmakers such as Nikolas Ferreira and Carla Zambelli, whose stories in X have been under the radar of the courts for months.
independence day
The blocking of the X network in Brazil, far from having weakened the extreme right, gives it wings. The official events of September 7, the date kidnapped by Bolsonarism for years, will be tarnished by the demonstration called in São Paulo by Jair Bolsonaro. If last year Lula tried to recover the celebration of democracy, he invited Judge Moraes, as well as the rest of the members of the Supreme Court, to show their support for the judiciary in the face of attacks.
In recent days, Musk has continued to insult the judge, whom he accused of being a “dictator”, a “tyrant” and a “criminal”. Furthermore, Musk even threatened Lula with a “reciprocal seizure” of Brazilian assets in the United States, after the embargo decreed on Starlink’s bank account in Brazil (Musk does not have the power to do something like this in the United States and he is also running a personal campaign against the current government and the vice-president and candidate Kamala Harris).
Musk’s energies are invested fire the call for the demonstration in São Paulo. He spreads the content of Bolsonaro’s accounts, encourages calls and even photos of him with Bolsonaro.
If in past years Bolsonarism conspired on September 7 to display nationalism and conservative values, in 2024 the indictment against Judge Moraes has taken over. The extreme right has launched campaigns to pressure senators and deputies in favor of the impeachment process. Even if its legal execution is almost impossible, it can be a unifying factor for mobilization.
boomerang effect
An analysis by the consultancy Eurasia Group highlights that the ban on The boomerang effect of the closure of
Elon Musk’s satellite internet company Starlink began blocking access to the X network in Brazil on Tuesday, after four days of defiance. Having missed the deadline to appeal Moraes’ decision to block its accounts, Starlink began running the risk of having its vehicles, planes and ships in Brazil seized. Starlink has changed its stance in an attempt to disassociate itself from the process against the X social network and to try to reverse the blocking of its assets.
While Musk has not immediately reduced his criticism of the Brazilian judicial system, his position has changed slightly after his meeting with the US Embassy in Brasilia. The embassy said in a note that it was aware of the situation between the Federal Supreme Court and Platform X: “We emphasize that freedom of expression is a fundamental pillar of a healthy democracy. Due to our internal policy, we do not comment on court decisions or legal disputes.”
Brazilian media reported that the US embassy recommended that Musk appoint legal representation for X in the country, without which the activation of judicial resources is not possible.
According to the newspaper São Paulo Newspaper, Musk has contacted several executives to be X’s representatives in Brazil. None have been accepted, since Musk continues to refuse both to block profiles in X accused of coup content and to pay the fines set by the courts. The legal representative would not only see his role reduced to responding to hundreds of legal proceedings, but would also run the risk of going to prison.
As X-rated fines increase in Brazil, far-right takes advantage dead end to catapult the call to protest this Saturday in São Paulo. In a new reinvention of the most patriotic day of the year, protesters will pay tribute to a politically disqualified former president who risks prison (Jair Bolsonaro), an evangelical pastor who regularly delivers sermons with anti-democratic content (Silas Malafaia) and a foreign billionaire who refuses to bow to Brazilian justice (Elon Musk).
