Elon Musk has backpedaled. Starlink, the satellite internet service provider operated by the company SpaceX, founded and owned by the American billionaire, announced on Tuesday, September 3 that it would now block the social network X in Brazil, while it had refused to do so until now. Three days earlier, the latter had started to be blocked in the country by all other internet service providers, after a Supreme Court judge ordered its suspension due to legal violations.
“Regardless of Starlink’s illegal treatment in freezing our assets, we are complying with the order blocking access to X in Brazilthe Starlink company finally wrote on Tuesday in a message sent on X to its Brazilian customers. We continue to pursue all legal avenues, as do others who agree that Alexandre de Moraes’ recent orders violate the Brazilian Constitution.”
Last week, before ordering the suspension of X, Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes had frozen Starlink’s accounts in the country in order to force Elon Musk’s company to pay the fines imposed on the social network, which already exceed $3 million. The judge considers that the two companies, owned by the same man, are part of a single economic group, something that Starlink’s lawyers dispute, and they have appealed the decision.
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250,000 Starlink customers in Brazil
According to Artur Coimbra, a board member of Anatel, Brazil’s telecommunications regulator, Starlink’s compliance allows Elon Musk to avoid further trouble: Anatel could have seized the equipment of Starlink’s 23 ground stations in Brazil, which ensure the quality of its Internet access service.
The turnaround is a relief for Brazilians who rely on Starlink. The company said it has more than 250,000 customers in the South American country, many of whom are in remote areas that otherwise wouldn’t have fast internet access. Before Starlink, much of those areas relied on slow and unstable fixed antennas.
Starlink’s easy-to-install kits and the high-quality connection they enable have transformed communication in some areas, which have since caught up with major Amazonian cities in terms of access speed. The Forest People Connection project, launched in 2022 thanks to Starlink terminals donated by Elon Musk, has so far brought it to 1,014 isolated communities, including indigenous peoples. At the same time, improved connectivity has facilitated illegal activities, such as gold mining.
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