Musk's X Corporation adjusts its actions, now adhering to judicial decrees issued in Brazil.
Elon Musk's X now agrees to obey orders from the Brazilian Supreme Court, allowing it to resume operations in the country and potentially put an end to its battle with a powerful judge over free speech, far-right accounts, and misinformation.
The Supreme Court requested that X submit documents confirming its new legal representative in Brazil on Saturday.
X was suspended in Brazil at the end of August due to its failure to comply with orders from the top court regarding hate speech moderation on the platform.
However, recently, X representatives have publicly expressed a wish to meet the court's demands, even though the company had initially stated it would not comply.
According to X's lawyers, the platform assigned a legal representative in Brazil on Friday, addressing a crucial requirement imposed by the court.
In a Saturday ruling, Supreme Court judge Alexandre de Moraes provided X with five days to submit commercial registrations and other documents verifying that X officially appointed Rachel de Oliveira Conceicao as its Brazilian legal representative.
Brazilian law obliges foreign corporations to have a legal representative in order to conduct business within the country. The chosen representative would assume the local legal obligations on behalf of the company.
X had a legal representative in Brazil until mid-August, when it opted to shut down its operations and dismiss its local staff.
The decision followed a prolonged disagreement between Musk and Moraes over X's failure to adhere to court orders demanding the platform to take action against the dissemination of hate speech, which Musk referred to as censorship.
Brazil's top court also mandated X to block certain accounts under investigation for hate speech and misinformation, and to pay fines amounting to over $3 million as prerequisites to lift the ban.
Initially, X warned it would not comply with the "unlawful" orders, but its lawyers have since indicated that the platform will pay the fines it is liable for and that it has also commenced blocking the concerned accounts.
It remained unclear which accounts X was ordered to block as the investigation is confidential.
Despite the ban, X was accessible to many users in Brazil for a brief period on Wednesday after an update to its communication network bypassed the court-ordered block.
X's decision to assign a new legal representative in Brazil and comply with the court's orders opens up possibilities for its business operations to resume. This move in compliance with the Brazilian Supreme Court could potentially be seen as a shift in the tech giant's approach towards addressing content moderation concerns in the tech industry.
