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Elon Musk refuses to suspend X accounts and urges Brazilians to use a VPN
Something is boiling in Brazil. On April 21st, in the hot weather—over 80 degrees—thousands of former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro supporters gathered in a demonstration, some holding signs with Elon Musk on them. Obrigado Elon Musk says one, meaning Thank You in Portuguese, the primary language in Brazil. In turn, Bolsonaro thanked Musk for his courage in resisting government censorship. Let's take a closer look.
Brazil Live: Is the Newly Elected Government the Opposite of Democracy?
At first glance, Elon Musk seems to be having some Twitter beef, now known as X, with Brazilian politicians. The latter, led by Alexandre de Morae, the enigmatic president of the Superior Electoral Court and justice of the Superior Federal Court, demanded X block certain accounts. Now, we're not fans of the government banning batches of social network accounts; it's too close to authoritarianism to suppress political activists using the Twitter Brazil platform to communicate. But let's add some political background.
Brazil is experiencing significant political turmoil. In 2022, right-wing ex-president Bolsonaro was replaced by the current left-aligned president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who also served in the position from 2003 to 2010. The presidential transition soon turned into a massive protest extending into 2023 and culminating in the storming of the Brazilian capital, not unlike the one we saw in the US on January 6th, 2020.
Without getting into details that would require a different lengthy article, the nationwide unrest sparked debates on Brazil's laws and free speech. The real main character here is Alexandre de Morae. Hailed by the left-aligned political course proponents as a savior of democracy, he soon started implementing severe restrictions, including incarcerations for social media posts.
In fact, social media users became targets of the emerging governmental surveillance apparatus, called by the opposition the Censorship Industrial Complex in Brazil. We are not arguing here for one side or another, as understanding the decades-long intricacies of Brazilian politics is way beyond our knowledge. However, the hammering down on social media users because they express a different political opinion is universally wrong, regardless of political affiliation.
Why Elon Musk Recommends Brazil VPN
That brings us to Elon's Twitter and why he recommends a VPN for Brazil. On April 6th, 2024, the Brazilian court demanded X ban specific users without providing too many details. Here are illustrative excerpts from the X Global Government Affairs team's response:
We do not know the reasons these blocking orders have been issued.
We do not know which posts are alleged to violate the law.
We are prohibited from saying which court or judge issued the order or on what grounds.
That could have gone better with X policies and its owner. Say what you will about Elon Musk, but his dedication to free speech is evident, which sometimes causes him trouble after careless midnight tweets. Some even questioned what was wrong with Elon Musk after he slapped a subscription price tag after buying the social network.
But one thing he doesn't like is censorship and account bans. Remember that following the US January 6th insurrection, Twitter, then with Jack Dorsey as its CEO, banned Donald Trump's account. Elon Musk reinstated it, although Trump's discourse often borders on political propaganda and is unwelcome on most social networks. He did the same for flagged accounts regarding this Twitter Brazil dispute.
The X owner is having none of this and considers account bans based on personal opinions the opposite of democracy, which we wholeheartedly agree with. As you'll see in the following chapter, Mr. de Moraes is no stranger to targeting political opponents and is adamant about protecting the state's power, even if it violates privacy rights. Furthermore, more subtle measures exist to limit inappropriate discourse, such as a shadow ban on Twitter accounts or suspensions. It looks like Brazil's current government seems to have taken a non-negotiable stance, demanding Twitter under its full control.
Instead of complying, Elon Musk left the accounts intact and advised Brazilians to use a VPN to bypass regional X bans. Brazil's VPN subscriptions skyrocketed as people feared account bans, governmental censorship, and potential legal trouble for expressing an opposing political opinion. Despite the government's claim about terminating all contracts with X, Elon Musk intends to keep doing business there and even provide free Starlink internet access to schools in Brazil.
Like everywhere else, Brazil's social media plays a huge part in democratic elections. Simultaneously, dictatorship countries like Iran and North Korea heavily restrict social networks. So what we're looking at is really a battle between excessive government surveillance and censorship and free speech and political activism. But was there a good reason for managing who uses Twitter in Brazil and for what in the first place?
Citizens’ Free Press and Twitter Files
We have been following the unraveling situation curiously and stumbled upon Brazil's Twitter Files. We recommend going through the whole document if you are as interested in the current free speech situation in the largest South American country as we are. But here's a synopsis if you're in a hurry.
The files were compiled by journalists and researchers Michael Shellenberger, David Agape, and Eli Vieira, and a third party uploaded them to the web. They include correspondence between Rafael Batista, Twitter's legal counsel in Brazil, describing Brazil's government demands.
The Files show the origins of the Brazilian judiciary's demand for sweeping censorship powers, the court's use of censorship for anti-democratic election interference, and the birth of the Censorship Industrial Complex in Brazil.
Banning accounts is terrible, but spying on private online conversations is the worst. The first entry was made in February 2020, two years before Brazil's elections. Rafael Batista is surprised to receive Brazil's Congress order to share "messages exchanged by some users via DMs, login records – among other info." They wasted no time asking for metadata and went straight to direct messages.
Although X can possibly share direct messages due to the lack of end-to-end encryption, the lack of probable cause raised several eyebrows, and X resisted. Brazilian prosecution responded by launching its first-ever investigation against Twitter's employee for disobedience, which means not complying with sharing direct messages.
A Brazilian judge dropped the investigation, denying the prosecution's claim and arguing a "non-existent obligation" to collect and share direct Twitter messages and account details. Less than two weeks later, the Sao Paulo State Public Prosecutor Office reinstated the investigation, arguing conflict of interest and judge partiality. Those are big words for a request to peek at Twitter's direct messages.
Long story short, the opposing parties have kept exchanging accusations since then, even when Twitter is now X, and we don't know what exactly to call it anymore. One thing is evident from the Twitter files – Brazil's authorities' demands are increasing.
At one point, they asked for the name and address of an X employee related to the case (scary). Then they asked to demonetize accounts that belonged to the ex-president's Bolsonaro heavy supporters. Then they asked for the IP logs of 62 accounts that allegedly retweeted illegal content, 8 of which aren't even located in Brazil. With rapidly increasing demands, the news quickly spread across the globe, painting the new cabinet in a different light.
Should You Get a VPN to Access Twitter in Brazil?
Twitter is currently available in Brazil, but you're walking on thin ice if you're going to use it for political activism. Brazil's social media is clearly under heavy surveillance. But what do we know? We're not there!
Well, a person who can help decide is none other than the citizen's free press fighter, Glenn Greenwald. After Edward Snowden exposed the US National Security Agency's mass surveillance program, he contacted Glenn Greenwald to expose the crimes. And Glenn's been living in Brazil for nearly 20 years, so what does he say about all this?
One of the reasons I'm so opposed to censorship is because free speech, even when it's speech that you regard as hateful or dangerous or even when it asserts things that are quote-unquote false in the eyes of officials or experts or even objectively, still provides people an outlet. Free Speech provides people a way to engage in activism peacefully.
Greenwald does not mince words when talking about de Moraes on his Substack, which he calls tyrannical and authoritarian. De Moraes's demands are just too much, as he silences opponents online and uses police force with little justification. Big changes are coming in digital Brazil, and until we see where it goes, using a reliable Brazil VPN is best.
What Is a Good VPN for Brazil?
Currently, VPN users in Brazil seek online privacy protection, a safe haven from surveillance and censorship, and access to X if it gets banned. This requires a large and private server network outside of the region, and we recommend a decentralized VPN as an efficient solution.
Our decentralized VPN has over 20,000+ servers in 135 countries and will send your traffic through several to mix traces and ensure online privacy, similar to a double VPN feature. Furthermore, the decentralized structure ensures that we do not and cannot collect logs, which is paramount when dealing with government surveillance.
Until Brazil loosens its grip on social network users, connect to one of our fast servers in Chile, Argentina, or the US to bypass regional blocks and maintain unrestricted internet and X social network access.
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