Brazil’s Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes deactivates X account after multimillion-dollar fine on the platform

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Rio de Janeiro, Brazil – The official X account of Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes was deactivated and displayed the message “This account does not exist” on Friday morning (21). This message typically appears when a user voluntarily deletes their profile. Moraes’ account, created in August 2017, had not been very active recently but remained online until earlier this week.

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It remains unclear whether Moraes himself decided to deactivate the account. The social media platform X, owned by Elon Musk, has not issued any official statement on the matter.

$8.1 Million Fine Imposed on X

The account deactivation comes just a day after Justice Moraes fined X $8.1 million for failing to comply with a judicial order. The platform was penalized for not providing registration data linked to an account allegedly associated with right-wing blogger Allan dos Santos, who has been under investigation since July last year for alleged crimes committed on social media.

Although X complied with a court order to block the blogger’s account, the company refused to hand over user data, arguing that it does not collect registration details. This led to a fine of $100,000 per day for non-compliance. The company appealed the decision, but Moraes upheld the penalty and ordered the immediate payment of the accumulated amount.

Ongoing Clashes Between Moraes and X

X has faced multiple legal battles in Brazil over its failure to adhere to court rulings. In 2023, the platform was blocked in the country for more than a month after repeatedly disobeying Supreme Court orders.

Moraes’ decision to impose the hefty fine and the subsequent deactivation of his X account highlight the ongoing tensions between Brazil’s judiciary and the social media giant, which has increasingly resisted compliance with local judicial directives.