Janice R. Andrews
Starlink, the satellite internet service owned by SpaceX and run by Elon Musk, is not going to follow the Supreme Court of Brazil’s decision to block access to the social media site X. Starlink said it would give its Brazilian customers free internet service while its local bank accounts stayed frozen. This has made things worse between the company and the Brazilian government.
The fight started when Brazil’s Supreme Court told ISPs to block access to X, which used to be called Twitter, because the platform was being blamed for spreading hate speech and false information. By Sunday night, most people in Brazil could not get to X. The only ways to get in were through Starlink or virtual private networks (VPNs). But if you use a VPN to get to the platform, you could get fined a lot.
Supreme Court judge Alexandre de Moraes, who is known for taking a strong stand against X, told Starlink’s local bank accounts to be frozen. The goal of Moraes’s ruling is to make sure that X pays the $3 million fine it owes for not blocking certain accounts as the court ordered. Even though there is a lot of pressure on Starlink, it has refused to follow the court’s order to block access to X until its frozen assets are freed. According to The New York Times, this was revealed by the head of Brazil’s telecom company, Anatel.
Starlink asked the court to overturn the asset freeze, but their request was turned down. Elon Musk has called the court’s decision “illegal,” saying that SpaceX and X are two different companies, even though he owns 40% of SpaceX. His argument is that Starlink shouldn’t be blamed for X’s failure to follow court orders.
About 250,000 people in Brazil use the satellite internet service. Most of them live in rural areas or in Amazonian Indigenous communities. Starlink’s choice to offer free service while its accounts are banned is important because of how popular it is and how important it is for connecting people who don’t have access to the internet to it. However, this disobedience could lead to bad things.
Brazilian officials could take away Starlink’s license to do business in the country if it keeps disobeying the Supreme Court’s order. Additionally, if the business continues to run without a license, authorities can take tools from its 23 ground sites, which are necessary to improve Starlink’s satellite connections.
In the meantime, a majority of the Supreme Court confirmed the ban on X in a trial on Monday, even though Musk kept disobeying court orders. The finding says that X can appeal, but it also says that anyone in Brazil using a VPN to reach X will be fined 50,000 Brazilian Real per day, which is about $8,900.
As the court case goes on, the standoff between Starlink and Brazilian officials shows how hard it is to regulate digital platforms and internet service providers in this age of global connection.
