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Brazil's activist Supreme Court justice Alexandre de Moraes has ordered an investigation into Elon Musk, after the billionaire vowed to defy a court order as part of an ongoing probe into social media accounts allegedly spreading misinformation and 'hate' speech.

"The flagrant conduct of obstruction of Brazilian justice, incitement of crime, the public threat of disobedience of court orders and future lack of cooperation from the platform are facts that disrespect the sovereignty of Brazil," wrote de Moraes – who Musk called "Brazil's Darth Vader" over the weekend.

While X initially said in a Saturday post that they would comply, blocking certain popular accounts in Brazil – Musk said an hour later, after the release of the "TWITTER FILES BRAZIL," that they would not, noting that "As a result, we will probably lose all revenue in Brazil and have to shut down our office there."

in a Sunday post, Musk said that Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes had "brazenly and repeatedly betrayed the constitution and people of Brazil," and should "resign or be impeached."

De Moraes said that as part of his decision to open an inquiry, that "X shall refrain from disobeying any court order already issued, including performing any profile reactivation that has been blocked by this Supreme Court," Reuters reports.

The justice said that Musk would face a fine that equates to approximately $20,000 each time an account is reactivated on X.

For an overview:

The TWITTER FILES BRAZIL, reported by investigative journalist Michael Shellenberger, and colleagues David Ágape and Eli Vieira, reveal that "Brazil is engaged in a sweeping crackdown on free speech led by a Supreme Court justice."

The "Twitter Files" also show that the justice “sought to weaponize Twitter’s content moderation policies against supporters of then-president @jairbolsonaro,” Mr. Shellenberger said—a similar trend to what the “Twitter files” revealed was happening to former President Donald Trump and conservative voices in the United States.

The origin of the order to censor Brazilians’ posts was also revealed in the internal Twitter files, Mr. Shellenberger said.

Brazilian Attorney General Jorge Messias backed de Moraes, saying in a post on X: "We cannot live in a society in which billionaires domiciled abroad have control of social networks and put themselves in a position to violate the rule of law, failing to comply with court orders and threatening our authorities."

In a Sunday evening post, Musk told users in Brazil that they can use a VPN to access X.

Meanwhile, a cautionary tale for what Democrats want to do in the United States…

And an interesting thread…

Continued…