Starlink Emerges As Fresh Battleground Between Musk and Brazil

Tensions between Brazil and Elon Musk's business empire escalated further as the country's telecom regulator threatened to sanction his satellite broadband company, Starlink, just hours after Brazil's top court supported a controversial decision to ban the social network X from the country, Ricardo Brito and Luciana Novaes Magalhaes reported for Reuters.

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Brazil's President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva also backed the top court's Judge Alexandre de Moraes' decision to suspend X.

The judge found that X allowed the posting of hate messages and falsehoods about the country's electronic voting system that undermined Brazil’s democracy.

"The Brazilian judiciary may have given an important signal that the world is not obliged to put up with Musk's far-right ideology just because he is rich," Lula said in an interview with CNN Brasil.

Reacting to the judge's earlier move to freeze Starlink's accounts for possible use in paying fines owed by X, Musk said in a post on X that he would seek reciprocal seizure of Brazilian assets, though he did not specify how.

Starlink again found itself in Brazilian authorities' crosshairs on Monday by refusing to comply with Moraes' order for all internet providers to block domestic access to X.

A senior official at the telecommunications regulator Anatel said sanctions against Starlink for noncompliance could include the revocation of its license to operate in Brazil, Luana Maria Benedito and Andre Romani also reported for Reuters.