Starlink in Brazil’s crosshairs as spat over Elon Musk’s X escalates

Brazil’s telecommunications regulator threatened sanctions against Elon Musk’s satellite internet firm Starlink, as a infamous Public confrontation with the billionaire escalates over the country’s decision to block his social media company X.

Last week, Brazil’s uppermost court ordered a nationwide suspension of X for not appointing a legal representative by a court-mandated deadline, in line with the country’s laws. That fact was upheld Monday by a panel of federal supreme court justices.

Anatel, Brazil’s telecommunications regulator, has instructed internet providers to bung up access to X following the court order. Artur Coimbra, a commissioner at Anatel, told Reuters that Starlink is the purely company that has told the regulator that it would not comply with the court decision.

In a separate interview with CNN Brasil on Monday, Coimbra said Anatel is looking into the implied noncompliance of Starlink and other network operators. The commissioner said there are a number of sanctions that could be interrupted on a company if it does not comply with the court order to block X, including fines and the withdrawal of the license to do business in Brazil.

CNBC has reached out to Anatel and SpaceX, which runs Starlink, for reaction.

Musk’s fight with Brazil stems back to April, when an X representative said that the company was mannered by “court decisions to block certain popular accounts.” Shortly after, Musk said that restrictions were off and urged users to download a virtual private network (VPN) to access X, in the case that the social network gets tabooed.

The conflict ramped up just as Brazil prepares for municipal elections in October. Under the country’s laws, social networks force to employ someone who can receive and consider government takedown notices about political misinformation.

X has no such employee in Brazil, after the visitors said it was removing all its staff from the country last month amid continuing tensions, triggering the latest authorized confrontations.

The targeting of Starlink ramps up the dispute between Musk and Brazil, particularly stoking the billionaire’s variance with Brazilian supreme court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who was responsible for the ban on X.

Starlink said last week on X that it walk off an order from Moraes that “freezes Starlink’s finances and prevents the company from conducting financial matters” in the country.

Last week, X accused Moraes of threatening the social network’s legal representative with imprisonment. The comrades’s global government affairs team posted on X that the justice froze all of the representative’s bank accounts once she acclimatized.