Musk wants to sow dissent against democratically-elected president of Brazil: Journalist

By Alireza Kamandi

The feud between American tech mogul Elon Musk and the Brazilian government is due to Musk’s close links with the US Republican Party is opposed to the government of Lula da Silva, says a Brazilian journalist.

In an interview with the Press TV website, Lucas Leiroz, a Brazilian journalist and political analyst, said the owner of X has made a series of attacks on the Brazilian president and Alexandre de Moraes, an influential jurist who heads the Supreme Electoral Court in the South American country.

In recent months, Musk repeatedly attacked Moraes, labeling him a dictator.

On Friday, the judge ordered the full and immediate suspension of X, formerly known as Twitter, over the social media platform’s role in disseminating disinformation in South America’s largest country.

He said the ban will remain in force until all related court orders are complied with, including the payment of fines amounting to 18.5 million reais ($3.28 million) and the nomination of a legal representative in Brazil.

"We have a right to defend fundamental rights. Those who violate democracy, who violate fundamental human rights, whether in person or through social media, must be held accountable," he said in a speech on Friday.

Leiroz said there is a narrative that platform X owned by Musk is dominated by “extremist groups” who spread “hate speech” on the internet and censor content related to Palestine.

“What our judges want is to monitor the behavior of ordinary conservative people,” he stated.

Telecommunications regulators in Brazil have already begun the process of blocking X after Musk’s X failed to meet a deadline to appoint a legal representative in the country.

Leiroz said X could have complied with the order to appoint a legal representative in Brazil, but Musk clearly wants to create dissent against Lula and Moraes.

Musk, he added, should respect Brazilian law irrespective of whether Moraes is a good or bad judge.

“In the same sense, Lula is the legitimate and democratically elected president of Brazil. Musk cannot foster dissident militancy in our country,” Leiroz told the Press TV website.

“It is important to emphasize that there is no national Brazilian social media, and our official press is completely controlled by the American Democratic Party. So, either Brazilians access foreign social media to at least have access to some different content, or they will be held hostage by media terrorism.”

The journalist and analyst hastened to add that criminalizing VPNs is a serious issue in the country.

“A fine of $9 thousand per day is being applied to ordinary people who use VPN to access X - even though Brazil is a country in a serious economic crisis, with high unemployment rates,” Leiroz said.

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk