Some Brazilian historians now count 14 coup attempts in the republic’s 136 years. Some have been successful, including the one that installed a military dictatorship between 1964-1985.

But only the latest, which a Supreme Court panel ruled was orchestrated by former President Jair Bolsonaro, ended with prison sentences for its leaders, instigators and supporters, many of whom are already behind bars.

To a large extent, the unprecedented outcome is the result of one man’s drive.

Supreme Court justice Alexandre de Moraes, the judge who spearheaded the case, has become a hero to some Brazilians and a zealot to others.

In Brazil, he is better known as “Xandao,” or “Big Alex” in Portuguese. Married with three children, he is widely known for his shiny bald head and use of soccer metaphors, but also for what many see as swift and divisive actions.

Justice De Moraes, 56, has taken on politicians, billionaire Elon Musk and Bolsonaro’s supporters who damaged government buildings in Brasilia, the capital, during a 2023 riot that prosecutors said was instigated by the former President.

From now on, Brazilian history books will call him the Supreme Court judge who led a five-member panel to sentence Bolsonaro to 27 years and three months in prison.

He led the trial despite pressure from the U.S. government that sanctioned Justice de Moraes and imposed tariffs on Brazil because of the process against Bolsonaro, an ally of U.S. President Donald Trump.

Only one of the justices, Luiz Fux, disagreed and asked for Bolsonaro to be acquitted. But Justice de Moraes’ sway in the case is such that the longest serving member of the court, Justice Gilmar Mendes, and Chief Justice Luis Roberto Barroso popped by the panel’s room at end of the trial solely to defend his work.

The panel also ruled against seven close allies of the former President, including top military men.

“I may have disagreements in some issues with Justice de Moraes,” said José Eduardo Cardozo, a former justice Minister who first met Justice de Moraes about 30 years ago. “But in general his standing is rigorously righteous for those who understand constitutional law and defend the rule of law vehemently.”

For Mr. Cardozo, the criticism of how he handled Bolsonaro’s trial is “purely political.”

Celso Vilardi, a lawyer for Bolsonaro, took swipes at Justice de Moraes after Fux voted almost entirely in disagreement in the case.

“I am vindicated,” Mr. Vilardi told journalists Wednesday. “This was a technical vote.”

But before he became Bolsonaro’s lawyer in January, Mr. Vilardi had nothing but praise for Justice de Moraes.

A driven judge who doesn’t waiver

Before the Bolsonaro case began, Justice de Moraes’ public image was one of a backward, conservative judge.

He frequently was mocked on social media for two videos. One shows him destroying a small marijuana plantation with his bare hands. The other exposes his discomfort among Indigenous Brazilians, who danced as they repeated his name.

Now social media is filled with images of Justice de Moraes. Right-wing content shows the judge asking people for their private information if they don’t want to be jailed, while left-wing voters portray him as Superman, an unstoppable hero rising to the task. Some memes mock his seemingly more aggressive decisions when his soccer club Corinthians loses.

Friends, adversaries and colleagues have said over the years that Justice de Moraes does not waiver when on duty.

“History teaches us that impunity, omission and cowardice are not options for pacification, because the apparently easier path, and only apparently, is that of impunity, omission, leaving traumatic scars in our society and corrodes our democracy,” Justice de Moraes said during the first week of Bolsonaro’s trial.

A university professor and former public prosecutor, he was appointed to the country’s top court in 2017 by President Michel Temer, a conservative, after a stint as his Justice Minister. At his confirmation hearing, some people who became known Bolsonaro supporters publicly praised Justice de Moraes, such as Damares Alves, an evangelical leader who is now a senator.

At the time, Mr. Alves said Justice de Moraes was an unbiased, serious judge who has the right values.

Fast forward to 2025 and many of those Bolsonaro allies now call Justice de Moraes a “communist” and a “dictator” who deserves to be impeached and removed from the court for allegedly overstepping in the Bolsonaro investigation, including ordering house arrest for the embattled far-right leader.

“I have to apologise to my colleagues at the Workers’ Party,” Mr. Alves said hours before Bolsonaro was convicted. “They said we would change our minds about Alexandre de Moraes and they were right.”

One of the criminal counts against the former President makes reference to military allies plotting to shoot the justice dead.

Mr. Temer, the former President, noted in a May interview with daily newspaper Folha de S.Paulo that many alleged coup plot participants were initially jailed but then released by Justice de Moraes.

“He is no radical,” Mr. Temer said.

Opponents respond with fights and sanctions

But not everyone agrees he does a good job, including figures outside Brazil.

“Alexandre de Moraes is an evil dictator cosplaying as a judge,” Mr. Musk said.

The billionaire attacked Justice de Moraes last year after he threatened to suspend the social medial platform X in the nation of more than 200 million people.

The disagreement involved a monthslong dispute with Mr. Musk over free speech, far-right accounts and misinformation. In the end, the tech billionaire complied with all of Justice de Moraes’ demands, including blocking certain accounts from the platform, paying outstanding fines and naming a legal representative in Brazil, and the justice restored the social media’s service.

Recently, Trump’s administration imposed a 50% tariff hike on Brazilian exports with vocal support from Bolsonaro’s sons. The U.S. also sanctioned Justice de Moraes over alleged suppression of freedom of expression and overseeing the Bolsonaro trial.

A justice who comes with public security experience

Justice De Moraes previously identified with centre-right administrations and politicians. Between 2015 and 2016, he was Sao Paulo state’s public security secretary in a conservative setting.

Some of that experience became obvious during his term as president of Brazil’s top electoral court, overseeing the 2022 election.

His efforts to fight disinformation and protect the integrity of the electoral process were praised by moderates, international institutions and supporters of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva as key to the results being respected.

The electoral court role was added to one he received at the start of the Bolsonaro administration as rapporteur of a “fake news” probe focused on online attacks against members of the Supreme Court. Justice De Moraes was handpicked based on his security experience in Sao Paulo.

The two investigations resulted in arrests of political figures, blocks on social media accounts and lawsuits against business leaders, but in some ways also converged in the coup plot.

As the verdict and sentencing phase of Bolsonaro’s trial ended on Thursday, Justice de Moraes made an effort to reign in his emotions as his peer Flávio Dino took almost five minutes to praise his work.

“Justice Alexandre sees this as finishing line,” Mr. Dino said. “But there will be other trials, other tasks. This is a high point in his career, and we have to pay a tribute to him. That’s not very common in our community.”

Brazil started blocking Elon Musk’s social media platform X (formerly Twitter) early Saturday (August 31, 2024), making it largely inaccessible on both the web and through mobile apps after the billionaire refused to name a legal representative to the country.

The move escalates a monthslong feud between Mr. Musk and a Brazilian Supreme Court justice over free speech, far-right accounts and misinformation. Justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered the suspension on Friday (August 30, 2024).

To block X, Brazil’s telecommunications regulator, Anatel, told internet service providers to suspend users’ access to the social media platform. As of Saturday (August 31, 2024) after midnight local time, major operators had begun doing so.

Also Read: X owner Elon Musk uses his ’free speech’ platform to amplify his views worldwide

Mr. de Moraes had warned Mr. Musk on Wednesday (August 28, 2024) night that X could be blocked in Brazil if he failed to comply with his order to name a representative and established a 24-hour deadline. The company hasn’t had a representative in the country since earlier this month.

“Elon Musk showed his total disrespect for Brazilian sovereignty and, in particular, for the judiciary, setting himself up as a true supranational entity and immune to the laws of each country,” Mr. de Moraes wrote in his decision on Friday (August 30, 2024).

The Justice said the platform will stay suspended until it complies with his orders, and also set a daily fine of 50,000 reais ($8,900) for people or companies using VPNs to access it.

In a later ruling, he backtracked on his initial decision to establish a 5-day deadline for internet service providers themselves — and not just the telecommunications regulator — to block access to X, as well as his directive for app stores to remove virtual private networks, or VPNs.

Brazil is one of the biggest markets for X, which has struggled with the loss of advertisers since Mr. Musk purchased the former Twitter in 2022. Market research group Emarketer says some 40 million Brazilians, roughly one-fifth of the population, access X at least once per month.

“This is a sad day for X users around the world, especially those in Brazil, who are being denied access to our platform. I wish it did not have to come to this — it breaks my heart,” X’s CEO Linda Yaccarino said Friday (August 30, 2024) night, adding that Brazil is failing to uphold its constitution’s pledge to forbid censorship.

X had posted on its official Global Government Affairs page late Thursday (August 29, 2024) that it expected X to be shut down by de Moraes, “simply because we would not comply with his illegal orders to censor his political opponents.”

“When we attempted to defend ourselves in Court, Judge de Moraes threatened our Brazilian legal representative with imprisonment. Even after she resigned, he froze all of her bank accounts,” the company wrote.

X has clashed with de Moraes over its reluctance to comply with orders to block users.

Accounts that the platform previously has shut down on Brazilian orders include lawmakers affiliated with former President Jair Bolsonaro’s right-wing party and activists accused of undermining Brazilian democracy. X’s lawyers in April sent a document to the Supreme Court in April, saying that since 2019 it had suspended or blocked 226 users.

In his decision Friday (August 30, 2024), Mr. de Moraes’ cited Mr. Musk’s statements as evidence that X’s conduct “clearly intends to continue to encourage posts with extremism, hate speech and anti-democratic discourse, and to try to withdraw them from jurisdictional control.”

In April, Mr. de Moraes included Mr. Musk as a target in an ongoing investigation over the dissemination of fake news and opened a separate investigation into the executive for alleged obstruction.

Also Read: Elon Musk called out by UK government over provocative X posts as unrest grips country

Mr. Musk, a self-proclaimed “free speech absolutist,” has repeatedly claimed the justice’s actions amount to censorship, and his argument has been echoed by Brazil’s political right. He has often insulted Mr. de Moraes on his platform, characterizing him as a dictator and tyrant.

Mr. De Moraes’ defenders have said his actions aimed at X have been lawful, supported by most of the court’s full bench and have served to protect democracy at a time it is imperiled. He wrote Friday that his ruling is based on Brazilian law requiring internet services companies to have representation in the country so they can be notified when there are relevant court decisions and take requisite action — specifically the takedown of illicit content posted by users and an anticipated churn of misinformation during October municipal elections.

The looming shutdown is not unprecedented in Brazil.

Lone Brazilian judges shut down Meta’s WhatsApp, the nation’s most widely used messaging app, several times in 2015 and 2016 due to the company’s refusal to comply with police requests for user data. In 2022, Mr. de Moraes threatened the messaging app Telegram with a nationwide shutdown, arguing it had repeatedly ignored Brazilian authorities’ requests to block profiles and provide information. He ordered Telegram to appoint a local representative; the company ultimately complied and stayed online.

X and its former incarnation, Twitter, have been banned in several countries — mostly authoritarian regimes such as Russia, China, Iran, Myanmar, North Korea, Venezuela and Turkmenistan. Other countries, such as Pakistan, Turkey and Egypt, have also temporarily suspended X before, usually to quell dissent and unrest. Twitter was banned in Egypt after the Arab Spring uprisings, which some dubbed the “Twitter revolution,” but it has since been restored.

A search Friday (August 30, 2024) on X showed hundreds of Brazilian users inquiring about VPNs that could potentially enable them to continue using the platform by making it appear they were logging on from outside the country. It was not immediately clear how Brazilian authorities would police this practice and impose fines cited by Mr. de Moraes.

“This is an unusual measure, but its main objective is to ensure that the court order to suspend the platform’s operation is, in fact, effective,” Filipe Medon, a specialist in digital law and professor at the law school of Getulio Vargas Foundation, a university in Rio de Janeiro, told The Associated Press.

Mariana de Souza Alves Lima, known by her handle MariMoon, showed her 1.4 million followers on X where she intends to go, posting a screenshot of rival social network BlueSky.

On Thursday (August 29, 2024) evening, Starlink, Mr. Musk’s satellite internet service provider, said on X that Mr. de Moraes this week frozen its finances, preventing it from doing any transactions in the country where it has more than 250,000 customers.

“This order is based on an unfounded determination that Starlink should be responsible for the fines levied—unconstitutionally—against X. It was issued in secret and without affording Starlink any of the due process of law guaranteed by the Constitution of Brazil. We intend to address the matter legally,” Starlink said in its statement. The law firm representing Starlink told the AP that the company appealed, but wouldn’t make further comment.

Mr. Musk replied to people sharing the reports of the freeze, adding insults directed at de Moraes. “This guy @Alexandre is an outright criminal of the worst kind, masquerading as a judge,” he wrote.

Mr. Musk later posted on X that SpaceX, which runs Starlink, will provide free internet service in Brazil “until the matter is resolved” since “we cannot receive payment, but don’t want to cut anyone off.”

In his decision, Mr. de Moraes said he ordered the freezing of Starlink’s assets, as X didn’t have enough money in its accounts to cover mounting fines, and reasoning that the two companies are part of the same economic group.

While ordering X’s suspension followed warnings and fines and so was appropriate, taking action against Starlink seems “highly questionable,” said Luca Belli, coordinator of the Getulio Vargas Foundation’s Technology and Society Center.

“Yes, of course, they have the same owner, Elon Musk, but it is discretionary to consider Starlink as part of the same economic group as Twitter (X). They have no connection, they have no integration,” Mr. Belli said.

After a months-long standoff over disinformation, a Brazilian Supreme Court judge banned billionaire Elon Musk’s social media network X in the country on Friday. The judge, Alexandre de Moraes, ordered the “immediate, complete and comprehensive suspension of the operation of” X in the country. He told the national communications agency to take “all necessary measures” to implement the order within 24 hours.

Alexandre de Moraes also threatened a fine of 50,000 reais ($8,900) to anyone who used “technological subterfuges” to get around the block, such as a VPN or the virtual private network.

The Elon Musk-Brazil Judge Controversy

The Elon Musk-Alexandre de Moraes controversy began when the Supreme Court judge ordered the suspension of several accounts on X, formerly known as Twitter, belonging to supporters of Brazil’s former president Jair Bolsonaro, who tried to discredit the voting system in the 2022 election, which he lost.

Brazilian authorities are investigating whether Bolsonaro plotted a coup attempt to prevent current President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva from assuming office in January 2023.

In April, Moraes ordered an investigation of Musk, accusing him of reactivating some of the banned accounts.

ALSO READ | Elon Musk Compares Brazil’s Chief Justice To Harry Potter Villain Voldemort

X claims that Moraes threatened to arrest one of the company’s legal representatives in Brazil if it did not comply.

Musk’s platform had shut all of its Brazil offices due to what it called “censorship” by the judge, though its service had remained available for users in the country.

“We have a right to defend fundamental rights. Those who violate democracy, who violate fundamental human rights, whether in person or through social media, must be held accountable,” Moraes said in a speech on Friday, apparently referring to X.

Ban On Elon Musk’ X In Brazil

The Brazilian Supreme Court judge said the suspension would remain until all related court orders on X were complied with, including the payment of fines amounting to 18.5 million reais ($3.28 million), which he had previously slapped on the social media network for ignoring judicial orders.

The order will also be valid until a representative of the company in the country is appointed, he said.

Moraes also froze the financial assets of Musk’s Starlink by issuing an order to block the accounts of the satellite internet network that has rapidly expanded the number of its users in Brazil.

On Wednesday, he told Musk he had 24 hours to find a new representative or he would face suspension. However, as the deadline passed, X said in a statement that it expected Moraes to shut it down “simply because we would not comply with his illegal orders to censor his political opponents.”

X reportedly has more than 22 million users in Brazil.

What Elon Musk Said

Elon Musk, who took over X in 2022, reacted sharply to the ban and branded Alexandre de Moraes an “evil dictator cosplaying as a judge”.

He also accused him of “trying to destroy democracy in Brazil.”

“Free speech is the bedrock of democracy and an unelected pseudo-judge in Brazil is destroying it for political purposes,” he wrote on X.

“They’re shutting down the #1 source of truth in Brazil,” Musk added.

(With agency inputs)

Elon Musk’s social media giant X has clashed with Justice Alexandre de Moraes (in picture) over its reluctance to comply with orders to block users. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

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Elon Musk’s social media giant X has clashed with Justice Alexandre de Moraes (in picture) over its reluctance to comply with orders to block users. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

A Brazilian Supreme Court justice has ordered the suspension of Elon Musk’s social media giant X in Brazil after the tech billionaire refused to name a legal representative in the country, according to a copy of the decision seen by The Associated Press. The move on Friday (August 30, 2024) further escalates the monthslong feud between the two men over free speech, far-right accounts and misinformation.

Justice Alexandre de Moraes had warned Mr. Musk on Wednesday (August 28, 2024) night that X could be blocked in Brazil if he failed to comply with his order to name a representative, and established a 24-hour deadline. The company hasn’t had a representative in the country since earlier this month. Mr. De Moraes said the platform would remain blocked until it complies.

Brazil is an important market for X, which has struggled with the loss of advertisers since Mr. Musk purchased the former Twitter in 2022. Market research group Emarketer says some 40 million Brazilians, roughly one-fifth of the population, access X at least once per month.

X had posted on its official Global Government Affairs page late on Thursday that it expected X to be shut down by Mr. de Moraes, “simply because we would not comply with his illegal orders to censor his political opponents”.

“When we attempted to defend ourselves in court, Judge de Moraes threatened our Brazilian legal representative with imprisonment. Even after she resigned, he froze all of her bank accounts,” the company wrote. “Our challenges against his manifestly illegal actions were either dismissed or ignored. Judge de Moraes’ colleagues on the Supreme Court are either unwilling or unable to stand up to him.” X has clashed with Mr. de Moraes over its reluctance to comply with orders to block users.

Accounts that the platform previously has shut down on Brazilian orders include lawmakers affiliated with former President Jair Bolsonaro’s right-wing party and activists accused of undermining Brazilian democracy.

Mr. Musk, a self-proclaimed “free speech absolutist”, has repeatedly claimed the justice’s actions amount to censorship, and his argument has been echoed by Brazil’s political right. He has often insulted Mr. de Moraes on his platform, characterising him as a dictator and tyrant.

Mr. De Moraes’ defenders have said his actions aimed at X have been lawful, supported by most of the court’s full Bench and have served to protect democracy at a time in which it is imperilled. His order on Friday is based on Brazilian law requiring foreign companies to have representation in the country so they can be notified when there are legal cases against them.

Given that operators are aware of the widely publicised standoff and their obligation to comply with an order from Mr. de Moraes, plus the fact doing so isn’t complicated, X could be offline as early as 12 hours after receiving their instructions, said Luca Belli, coordinator of the Technology and Society Centre at the Getulio Vargas Foundation, a university in Rio de Janeiro.

Rio de Janeiro:

X owner Elon Musk on Sunday called for the resignation or removal of a Brazilian Supreme Court justice whom the billionaire entrepreneur accused of censorship for blocking accounts suspected of spreading disinformation.

“This judge has brazenly and repeatedly betrayed the constitution and people of Brazil. He should resign or be impeached,” Tesla and SpaceX boss Musk said of Alexandre de Moraes.

Beginning Saturday evening, Musk took to X, the platform formerly known as Twitter which he purchased in 2022, to launch a series of attacks against the justice.

As a result of Moraes threatening to “cut off access” to the platform, “we will probably lose all revenue in Brazil and have to shut down our office there,” Musk posted.

“But principles matter more than profit.” 

A divisive judicial figure — tyrannical to some and a fervent defender of democracy to others — Moraes is one of the 11 members on Brazil’s high court. He also presides over the country’s Superior Electoral Tribunal, or TSE.

Critics, now including Musk, have said Moraes is part of a sweeping crackdown against free speech in Brazil.

Moraes has spearheaded the battle against disinformation in Brazil. In recent years he has ordered the blocking of accounts of influential figures on social networks, most of them supporters of Jair Bolsonaro.

In 2023 the far-right former president was declared ineligible to run for office by the Moraes-led TSE, for disseminating false information about Brazil’s electoral system.

Bolsonaro is also being investigated over an attempted coup to prevent his 2022 electoral defeat against the current leftist president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, after a crowd of Bolsonaro supporters stormed the headquarters of the country’s three branches of power in Brasilia.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)