The comeback was brief but it caused a sensation. After having defied and taken by surprise the Brazilian authorities by restoring its services despite a blocking obligation, the X platform of the American billionaire Elon Musk bowed to justice on Thursday, September 19, by becoming inaccessible again in the country.
THURSDAY, “a little before 4 pm (21:00 Paris time) X has stopped using the service » of the cybersecurity company Cloudflare that allowed it to bypass the blocking order, Basilio Rodriguez Perez of the Brazilian Association of Internet Service Providers (Abrint), a sector group, told Agence France-Presse (AFP). Now the platform “it is blocked” again, he added.
Some of the social network’s roughly 22 million users in Latin America’s largest country had regained access to the app on their mobile phones since Wednesday, while Supreme Court judge Alexandre de Moraes had ordered it blocked on August 30 for having conspicuously ignored a series of court decisions linked to the fight against disinformation.
A daily fine of more than 800,000 euros
The group said on Wednesday night that the restoration of its service was a positive effect. “involuntary” from a server change and would remain ” temporary “But the Brazilian telecommunications agency (Anatel) estimated, on Thursday, in a press release that “Network X’s behavior showed a deliberate intent to circumvent the Supreme Court’s order”The agency said it would take “necessary measures in case of further attempts to circumvent the suspension”.
“Thanks to the support of telecom operators and Cloudflare, it was possible to identify a mechanism that, we hope, (…) will be able to restore the blockade” of the platform, Anatel had specified.
In a ruling made public on Thursday, Judge Moraes ordered the social network to block its service again under penalty of a fine of 5 million reals (about 820,000 euros) per day. According to him, “It was recalcitrant, unlawful, persistent and with the intention of not respecting court orders”.
Lively debate
On Wednesday, Abrint explained the technical operation that allowed X to become accessible to users again. “App X was updated (…) overnight [de mardi à mercredi]which meant a significant change in its structure”reported.
X’s use of Cloudflare, which uses constantly changing IP addresses, “makes blocking the app much more complicated”The association explained that until then, IP addresses (which identified the devices of Internet users) were fixed and easily blocked.
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The suspension of the platform sparked a lively debate in Brazil, and beyond, about the limits of freedom of expression on social media. Elon Musk criticized the blockade, calling it “dictator” Judge Moraes. The Brazilian right, led by former head of state Jair Bolsonaro, did the same.
The suspension, however, was supported by the government of leftist President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, in the name of respect for the law.
