• Starlink has now said that it will block access to X in Brazil.
• The company had previously said it won’t comply with the block and would pursue legal action claiming Brazil was acting unconstitutionally.
• Justice Alexandre de Moraes froze Starlink’s bank accounts last week.

Starlink, the internet service that beams connectivity from space to the ground, has bowed to the requests of Brazilian lawmakers to block access to X in the South American nation.

At the weekend, Brazil’s Supreme Court ordered internet service providers to block access to X, an order most seemed to comply with, aside from Starlink. For most of the weekend, Elon Musk (who is the owner of both Starlink and X) crowed about how Brazilians could access X via Starlink and even danced with the idea of opening up access to all in the country.

But now, the last pipe to X beyond Brazil is closed.

On Tuesday evening Starlink posted to X (because it doesn’t have a Facebook, Instagram or any other social presence aside from X and YouTube) that it would comply with Brazilian lawmakers’ orders.

“Regardless of the illegal treatment of Starlink in freezing of our assets, we are complying with the order to block access to X in Brazil,” the company posted.

The company still describes Alexandre de Moraes actions as illegal and will continue to pursue all legal avenues available as it believes that the order to block access to X violates “the Brazilian constitution”.

It seems as if the decision to comply with the Supreme Court comes as a result of X pursuing legal action against the freezing of its finances. It’s reported that de Moraes froze Starlink’s bank accounts in Brazil as a means to get X to pay the fines it has been issued and pressure the social network into appointing a legal representative in the country.

Citizens looking to bypass the ban by using a VPN may be slapped with a fine of up to 50 000 Real if they use it to access X so essentially, X is dead in Brazil.

This should be a concern for Musk given that the US, Japan and Brazil were the three biggest markets for the social network. However, the billionaire seems to be more preoccupied with “owning” de Moraes than he is with heeding the judge’s warnings.

Ironically, by choosing to protect a few accounts that Musk and his ilk didn’t want to ban, X is now banned for all Brazilians meaning that even the accounts Musk chose to protect, can no longer access the platform.

This debacle is far from over though and we suspect that much like earlier this year, X will eventually comply with Brazil’s requests. It does need the money from advertisers and subscribers in the region after all.