X circumvents court-ordered block in Brazil, raising legal questions

Social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, became accessible to many users in Brazil on Wednesday after an update to its communications network circumvented a block ordered by the country’s supreme court.

The update utilised cloud services offered by third parties, namely the security firm Cloudflare, allowing some Brazilian users to access X through a route outside of the country, even without a virtual private network (VPN), according to the Brazilian Association of Internet and Telecommunications Providers (Abrint).

Basilio Perez, a board member at Abrint, suggested the change was likely intentional. “Why would X use a third-party service that ends up being slower than its own?” he questioned.

The move comes after months of dispute between X owner Elon Musk and Brazilian justice Alexandre de Moraes, which led to the supreme court ordering Brazil’s mobile and internet service providers to block the platform last month.

Initially, Musk’s satellite internet service provider Starlink said it would continue to allow access to X in defiance of the ban, but later retracted those statements.

Perez noted that blocking X a second time would be challenging due to the technical change and the ubiquity of Cloudflare. “You can’t just block Cloudflare because you would block half of the internet,” he explained.

Brazil’s national telecommunications agency Anatel, responsible for implementing the court ruling, is now working to notify content delivery network providers and telecom companies to block access again, according to a source familiar with the situation. However, it remains unclear how long it will take for providers to comply with the order.

The day before X became available again, the White House had criticised Brazil’s digital embargo. Karine Jean-Pierre, the press secretary, stated, “When it comes to social media, we have been very clear that we think that folks should have access to social media. It’s a form of freedom of speech.”

Musk responded to the statement via X, writing, “Unexpected, but appreciated.” This came after the White House had called Musk “irresponsible” for a controversial tweet about US President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, which he later deleted.

X later clarified that the service restoration in Brazil was “inadvertent and temporary”, resulting from a switch in network providers necessitated by the shutdown. The company’s Global Affairs team stated that the change was made because certain infrastructure for the rest of Latin America was no longer accessible.