Billionaire Elon Musk has said that Brazilian employees of his social media site X (formerly known as Twitter), are being threatened with arrest. Musk added that all details he has on Brazilian Supreme Court judge Alexandre de Moraes will be shared after his employees are safe.
“We need to get our employees in Brazil to a safe place or otherwise not in a position of responsibility, then we will do a full data dump. They have been told they will be arrested,” he stated.
Earlier, Supreme Court Chief Justice Luis Roberto Barroso said on Monday that every company operating in the country is “subject to the constitution,” after one of the court’s judges opened an inquiry into social media platform X’s owner Elon Musk.
He said in a statement that court decisions may be subject to appeal, but never deliberate non-compliance, after Musk challenged a court decision ordering X, formerly known as Twitter, to block certain accounts.
Barroso did not mention X or any other company by name.
“It is certain that any and all companies operating in Brazil are subject to the Federal Constitution, the laws and decisions of the Brazilian authorities”, Barroso said in the statement.
Musk’s remarks prompted Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes to open an inquiry into the billionaire on Sunday.
In an X post on Saturday evening, the billionaire accused Moraes of “brazenly and repeatedly” betraying the constitution and people of Brazil.
Moraes is investigating “digital militias” that have been accused of spreading fake news and hate messages during the government of former far-right President Jair Bolsonaro and is also leading an investigation into an alleged coup attempt by Bolsonaro.
Brazil’s institutional relations minister Alexandre Padilha, the most senior member of Lula’s cabinet to comment on the matter so far, said the “attack” on Moraes is “unacceptable”.,
With inputs from Reuters
