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Brazil’s Supreme Court has taken another aggressive stance against Elon Musk’s platform X (formerly Twitter), pressuring Cloudflare to isolate X’s traffic and allowing Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to enforce the ban after the platform briefly resurfaced in the country.
Recently, the Supreme Court ordered ISPs to block X after the platform refused to suspend accounts accused of spreading disinformation, including those of former President Jair Bolsonaro’s supporters. Despite the court’s orders, X became accessible again when it began routing traffic through Cloudflare, a widely used content delivery network (CDN) that utilizes dynamic IP addresses. This change allowed users to bypass the ban without the use of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs).
“Inadvertent Service Restoration”
X’s Global Government Affairs account stated, “To continue providing optimal service to our users, we changed network providers. This change resulted in an inadvertent and temporary service restoration to Brazilian users.”
The Brazilian Association of Internet and Telecommunications Providers (ABRINT) expressed skepticism about the accidental nature of the access. “Everything that happened during the day led us to believe that it was on purpose,” said Basílio Rodriguez Pérez, an advisor to ABRINT. Cloudflare’s use of dynamic IP addresses made it more challenging to block X without affecting other critical services, such as banking systems.
According to The Associated Press, a person close to Cloudflare claimed that the network services provider did not intentionally help X evade the ban. “X recently switched to Cloudflare from another provider, which could be a reason the block is not working,” the anonymous source said.
Musk’s resistance to Brazil was criticized as he previously complied with similar orders in countries like Turkey and India. “Musk’s refusal to comply with certain judicial orders and the subsequent closure of X’s office in Brazil escalated the dispute,” Techdirt reported.
Implications on Free Speech
Critics argue that the Brazilian government’s actions, while legal, also have problematic components. “The process Brazil used has some deeply problematic components regarding due process and a lack of transparency,” noted Mike Masnick.
Similarly, Pérez emphasized the dilemma, stating, “You can’t just block Cloudflare because you would block half of the Internet.”
The court fined X five million reais ($920,000) for briefly breaching the ban. Furthermore, Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes seized $2 million from a Starlink bank account and $1.3 million from an X account to collect on previously issued fines.
Eventually, Cloudflare agreed to isolate X’s traffic, allowing ISPs to resume blocking the platform without affecting other websites after being contacted by Brazil’s telecom regulatory agency, Anatel.
