Brazil’s Supreme Court has announced that it is lifting the prohibition on the social media network X, formerly known as Twitter.
In his judgment, Justice Alexandre de Moraes authorized the “immediate return” of X’s activities in the country after the company paid substantial fines and banned accounts accused of disseminating misinformation.
According to a statement, the site has paid fines of 28 million reais ($5.1 million; £3.8 million) and agreed to appoint a local agent following Brazilian legislation.
Moraes had barred access to the site, which is owned by Elon Musk, after it refused to deactivate many profiles identified by the government as disseminating misinformation about the 2022 Brazilian presidential election.
After months of defying the court’s orders, Musk fired the company’s Brazilian staff in late August and closed X’s office in Brazil.
“The decision to close X offices in Brazil was difficult,” Musk, who also runs electric carmaker Tesla and rocket company SpaceX, wrote at the time.
Several days later, Justice Moraes ordered for the entire platform to be blocked across the country.
Many users switched to alternative sites such as Bluesky, and demand for VPNs (Virtual Proxy Networks) in Brazil soared.
But in September, the platform began to comply with the court’s orders in an apparent U-turn.
On Tuesday, X said that it was “proud to return to Brazil”.
“Giving tens of millions of Brazilians access to our indispensable platform was paramount throughout this entire process,” its government affairs team wrote in a statement.
It appears that X has now complied with all of the judge’s demands in order to have the ban lifted.
