The government of Brazil is going after free speech on X hard. Brazil demanded that X shut down accounts and Elon Musk refused. As a result, the government has launched a criminal investigation into Musk for allegedly spreading disinformation, obstructing justice, and allowing people to freely express their views.
This is being led by Federal Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes. Journalist Michael Shellenberger is in Brazil to cover this and he warns in this video that “De Moraes has taken Brazil one step closer to being a totalitarian dictatorship. What’s more, the events of the last few weeks make clear that Elon Musk is the only thing standing in the way of global totalitarianism. Without free speech, there can be no democracy.”
But Musk has not backed down. Brazil continues to retalliate and now says that it will consider revoking Starlink contracts. Some are reporting that X employees in Brazil have been warned that they too could be arrested.
This is one of the most terrifying authoritarianism we’ve seen against speech in a world of increasing authoritarianism. And the media is complicit. As Shellenberger points out, “with few exceptions, they spread disinformation and government propaganda as a matter of policy. Nobody demands censorship more than the corporate media, which benefit from governments shutting down their competitors.”
