Elon Musk’s satellite internet company, Starlink, informed Brazil’s telecom regulator, Anatel, that it will not follow a court order to block the social media platform X in the country until its local bank accounts are unfrozen.
Anatel confirmed this information to Reuters on Monday after its head, Carlos Baigorri, shared the details with Globo TV. The regulator passed Starlink’s note on to Brazil’s top court. Starlink, which serves over 200,000 customers in Brazil, is a unit of Musk’s rocket company, SpaceX.
Last week, Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered all telecom providers in Brazil to shut down X, which Musk also owns, because it lacks a legal representative in the country. This decision also led to the freezing of Starlink’s bank accounts in Brazil.
Musk reacted to the account freeze by calling Moraes a “dictator.” The account freeze is part of a separate dispute over unpaid fines that X was ordered to pay for failing to provide certain documents.
The Supreme Court did not comment on the situation. On Monday, a five-member panel of the court is expected to decide whether to uphold Moraes’ ruling. Legal experts consulted by Reuters believe the panel will likely support the verdict.
