Since taking over X (formerly Twitter), it's fair to say that Elon Musk has had a pretty eventful time running one of the world's largest social media websites. Amidst all of the blue ticks, layoffs and "fake news," the latest drama on the platform is all about Brazil.
After a judge banned the site in Brazil, Mr Musk is now advocating for users in the country to try one of the best VPNs to access the platform.
With the ban in place since Saturday and on Monday being upheld unanimously by the Supreme Court, it doesn't look like X is coming back anytime soon. But how has it come to this, and are users really at risk of a nearly $9,000 per day fine for using the site?
De Moraes vs Musk
The situation has been billed by many as a clash between two people, Elon Musk and Brazillian Supreme Court Judge Alexandre de Moraes, but in reality, it is yet another dispute about disinformation on X.
The inciting incident was in April with de Moraes insisting on banning a number of X accounts actively spreading falsehoods. These accounts were often spreading lies in support of former far-right President (and friend of Musk) Jair Bolsonaro.
In response, Musk said: "Free speech is the bedrock of democracy and an unelected pseudo-judge in Brazil is destroying it for political purposes."
In August, X then also closed its office in Brazil, citing threats of arrest made against its representative if she did not carry out "censorship orders." With no legal representative in place, X has now been banned in Brazil, with a fine of almost $9,000 per day for those found guilty of accessing it via a VPN or other means.
Whatever side you're on, there's no doubt that the situation is a mess, and it's ordinary users who suffer. They face either being bombarded by disinformation or not being able to access X at all.
Can you really be fined for tweeting with a VPN?
Super easy to use a VPN if a website is restricted in your location https://t.co/AHjiNRq5L9September 2, 2024
It sounds scary, but it's very difficult to enforce this kind of restriction on VPNs. By their very nature, VPNs are all about hiding your activity and spoofing your location to appear in another country. The most secure VPNs use leading encryption protocols to hide your data and maintain "no-log" policies making you very difficult to trace. Even Elon Musk himself has encouraged Brazil's estimated 20 million X users to use a VPN.
Gabriele Racaityte-Krasauske, spokesperson for Surfshark, spoke to our sister site Techradar on the unlikely prospect of being fined: "At the moment, it seems difficult to imagine how the Brazilian government's proposed fines on people using VPNs to access X could be implemented from a technical standpoint."
The ban appears to have a galvanizing effect on VPN use in Brazil with one provider, PureVPN, recording a large uptake in subscribers since the ban.
How to access X when visiting Brazil
If you're visiting beautiful Brazil, we don't blame you! It's a popular destination for those in the US and beyond. Enjoy your vacation, but if you have to access X a VPN probably is your best bet.
You could also try the Tor browser, a multi-layered encrypted browser, but it's not quite as easy to use as a VPN.
