Brazil’s first lady swore at billionaire Elon Musk at a G20 event in Rio de Janeiro about social media misinformation over the weekend.
Janja Lula da Silva, whose husband is President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, was talking about the need to combat fake news and regulate social media networks when she made it known how she felt about the Tesla CEO.
At one moment in her speech, a ship’s horn sounded, which prompted her to respond jokingly, “I think it’s Elon Musk,” Reuters reported. She then said she wasn’t afraid of him and added: “F*** you, Elon Musk.”
Musk, who has been at Donald Trump’s side consistently since he won the election, was swift to respond to the footage circulating on his social media platform X.
Sharing a clip of the moment, he captioned it simply with “Lol,” followed by a post that said: “They will lose the next election.”
The first lady has been feuding with Musk after threatening to sue his social media company following a hack on her X account. She accused the SpaceX owner of failing to adequately respond.
The incident comes as X returned to Brazil in October after remaining inaccessible for more than a month following a clash between Musk and a justice on the country’s highest court.
Internet service providers began restoring access to the platform after Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes authorized lifting X’s suspension.
De Moraes ordered the shutdown of X on August 30 after a monthslong dispute with Musk over free speech, far-right accounts and misinformation. Musk had disparaged de Moraes, calling him an authoritarian and a censor, although his rulings, including X’s nationwide suspension, were repeatedly upheld by his peers.
Janja da Silva, Lula’s wife, just said “fuck you, @elonmusk” during the G20 Social panel. This is the “tolerant” left. pic.twitter.com/lphpxHiFgb
— Nikolas Ferreira (@nikolas_dm) November 16, 2024
Musk’s company ultimately complied with all of de Moraes’ demands. They included blocking certain accounts from the platform, paying $5 million in fines and naming a legal representative. Failure to do the latter had triggered the suspension.
Brazil — a highly online country of 213 million people — is one of X’s biggest markets, with estimates of its user base ranging from 20 million to 40 million.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
