A Brazilian Supreme Court justice on Friday ordered the "immediate suspension" of social media platform X (formerly Twitter) in the country, after the company failed to meet a court deadline to appoint a legal representative in Brazil. This marks the latest escalation in the ongoing conflict between Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes and billionaire Elon Musk, who owns the platform.

In his ruling, Justice Moraes demanded the complete suspension of X's operations in Brazil until all court orders were fulfilled. These include the payment of fines totaling 18.5 million reais (approximately Rs 27.66 crore) and the appointment of a legal representative within the country.

The telecommunications regulator, Anatel, has been tasked with enforcing the suspension and must confirm its compliance to the court within 24 hours. Additionally, Moraes warned that any individual or organization attempting to bypass the block using virtual private networks (VPNs) could face daily fines of up to 50,000 reais (around Rs 7.47 lakh).

X acknowledged the situation late Thursday, noting that it expected Justice Moraes to order a shutdown after the company missed the court-imposed deadline for appointing a legal representative.

This dispute began earlier this year when Moraes ordered X to block certain accounts that were under investigation for spreading misinformation and hate speech through digital militias. Musk denounced the order as censorship and subsequently closed X’s offices in Brazil, though the platform continued to operate in the country.

In a related development, Brazil's Supreme Court also froze the local bank accounts of Starlink, a satellite internet service 40% owned by Musk. On Friday, Starlink petitioned the court to reverse that decision.