BRASILIA: A Brazilian Supreme Court judge threatened Wednesday to suspend X, formerly Twitter, if CEO Elon Musk doesn’t name a new legal representative for the social media site’s operations in the country.
Earlier this month Musk shut down X’s business operations in Brazil while preserving access to the social media site for users after accusing the judge of threatening the company’s previous legal representative.
In an order made public Wednesday, judge Alexandre de Moraes ordered Musk “to appoint the company’s new legal representative in Brazil within 24 hours.”
“In the event of non-compliance with the order, the decision provides for the suspension of the social network’s activities in Brazil.”
Moraes has spearheaded the battle against disinformation in South America’s largest nation, clashing with Musk along the way.
Musk and other critics have said Moraes is part of a sweeping crackdown on free speech.
Justifying the shutdown of the offices, Musk said that had X complied with de Moraes’s orders, “there was no way we could explain our actions without being ashamed.”
Moraes previously had ordered the suspension of several Twitter accounts suspected of spreading disinformation, including those of supporters of former far-right president Jair Bolsonaro, who tried to discredit the voting system in the 2022 presidential election, which he lost.
In April, X admitted that several users of blocked accounts had managed to circumvent the restrictions.
Musk is also the subject of a judicial investigation into an alleged scheme where public money was used to orchestrate disinformation campaigns in favor of Bolsonaro and those close to him.
Brazil judge threatens to suspend X within 24 hours
https://arab.news/w5557
Brazil judge threatens to suspend X within 24 hours
- Earlier this month, CEO Elon Musk shut down X’s business operations in Brazil
- Supreme Court judge Alexandre de Moraes accused of threatening the company’s previous legal representative
EU warns Meta it must open up WhatsApp to rival AI chatbots
- The EU executive on Monday told Meta to give rival chatbots access to WhatsApp after an antitrust probe found the US giant to be in breach of the bloc’s competition rules
BRUSSELS: The EU executive on Monday told Meta to give rival chatbots access to WhatsApp after an antitrust probe found the US giant to be in breach of the bloc’s competition rules.
The European Commission said a change in Meta’s terms had “effectively” barred third-party artificial intelligence assistants from connecting to customers via the messaging platform since January.
Competition chief Teresa Ribera said the EU was “considering quickly imposing interim measures on Meta, to preserve access for competitors to WhatsApp while the investigation is ongoing, and avoid Meta’s new policy irreparably harming competition in Europe.”
The EU executive, which is in charge of competition policy, sent Meta a warning known as a “statement of objections,” a formal step in antitrust probes.
Meta now has a chance to reply and defend itself. Monday’s step does not prejudge the outcome of the probe, the commission said.
The tech giant rejected the commission’s preliminary findings.
“The facts are that there is no reason for the EU to intervene,” a Meta spokesperson said.
“There are many AI options and people can use them from app stores, operating systems, devices, websites, and industry partnerships. The commission’s logic incorrectly assumes the WhatsApp Business API is a key distribution channel for these chatbots,” the spokesperson said.
Opened in December, the EU probe marks the latest attempt by the 27-nation bloc to rein in Big Tech, many of whom are based in the United States, in the face of strong pushback by the government of US President Donald Trump.
- Meta in the firing line -
The investigation covers the European Economic Area (EEA), made up of the bloc’s 27 states, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway — with the exception of Italy, which opened a separate investigation into Meta in July.
The commission said that Meta is “likely to be dominant” in the EEA for consumer messaging apps, notably through WhatsApp, and accused Meta of “abusing this dominant position by refusing access” to competitors.
“We cannot allow dominant tech companies to illegally leverage their dominance to give themselves an unfair advantage,” Ribera said in a statement.
There is no legal deadline for concluding an antitrust probe.
Meta is already under investigation under different laws in the European Union.
EU regulators are also investigating its platforms Facebook and Instagram over fears they are not doing enough to tackle the risk of social media addiction for children.
The company also appealed a 200-million-euro fine imposed last year by the commission under the online competition law, the Digital Markets Act.
That case focused on its policy asking users to choose between an ad-free subscription and a free, ad-supported service, and Brussels and Meta remain in discussions over finding an alternative that would address the EU’s concerns.
