Elon Musk's social media company paid more than $5 million in fines to resume operations in Brazil — but mistakenly deposited the money in the wrong bank, according to a report.
Lawyers for X on Friday asked Brazil's Supreme Court to allow its service to be restored, saying the company had paid fines stemming from an investigation into disinformation and hate speech on the platform, Reuters reported Friday.
But Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who launched the probe, reportedly refused the request, saying the money had to be transferred to the correct bank.
De Moraes also ruled that once the fines were properly paid, Brazil's prosecutor general would be allowed to weigh in on whether X should be allowed to operate in the country, one of the social media giant's largest markets, Reuters said.
In response, X then denied the money went to the wrong bank and said there was no need for the prosecutor general to be consulted before its ban is lifted, Reuters said.
Musk has repeatedly used X to attack de Moraes, calling him an "evil tyrant" and a "criminal cosplaying as a judge" after Moraes accused the tech billionaire that he accused of spreading disinformation.
In August, Musk shut down X's offices in Brazil rather than comply with an order from de Moraes to suspend certain accounts or face the arrest of the company's legal representative there.
