Brazil has launched an investigation against Elon Musk over his criticism of a judge who he accused of betraying the people of the Latin American country and demanded his resignation, AFP reported.
The move from the Brazilian authorities, which termed Musk's act "criminal instrumentalization of X" comes in the wake of Musk defying Judge Alexandre de Moraes' orders to ban certain Brazilians' accounts on X.
After initially complying with the order and blocking the accounts, Musk had on Saturday taken a recusant approach to the judge's order, announcing the restoration of accounts saying that freedom of speech is more important for him.
"The people of Brazil, regardless of their political beliefs, are entitled to freedom of speech, due process, and transparency from their own authorities," he posted on X.
On Saturday, X owner Elon Musk said that even though he stands to lose all revenue in Brazil and has been threatened with arrest of his employees working there, he will restore the accounts.
"We are lifting all restrictions. This judge has applied massive fines, threatened to arrest our employees and cut off access to 𝕏 in Brazil. As a result, we will probably lose all revenue in Brazil and have to shut down our office there. But principles matter more than profit," the billionaire owner of several tech firms, including Tesla, said.
According to Reuters, Moraes is leading an investigation into an alleged coup attempt by former far-right President Jair Bolsonaro and is among the most active judges in combating online "misinformation" in Brazil.
The same judge, the agency reported, had ordered an investigation into the executives of top tech firms like Google and Telegram for criticising a proposed internet regulation bill through a campaign.
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