Media: Trump targets Brazil’s Supreme Court judges over X suspension

The administration of US President Donald Trump is planning to impose sanctions on several judges from Brazil's Supreme Federal Court who temporarily banned the operation of X (formerly Twitter) in the country in 2024.

The main advocate for these sanctions is X’s owner, Elon Musk, Caliber.Az reports via Russian media.

The report reveals that the White House has instructed the US Department of State to compile a list of all judges who supported the suspension of X in Brazil within 120 days. US authorities are also working on preparing a set of potential restrictions that could be applied to these individuals.

The sanctions could primarily target Judge Alexandre de Moraes, who fined X in 2024 for its refusal to appoint a representative in Brazil and for temporarily suspending the platform's operations for several weeks. X’s management reported in April 2024 that they had obtained a confidential order from de Moraes, who had threatened the legal counsel of X’s Brazil office with arrest if they did not comply with his directive to block specific accounts.

The US government views the forced removal of user accounts at the request of Brazilian authorities as a violation of human rights and US law. The 120-day period is reportedly needed for the US to assess how the Brazilian government will respond to the proposed sanctions. Some judges have already indicated that they believe the actions of the Trump administration “will have no impact” on Brazil's stance on information policy. 

Earlier, in April 2024 the information went viral that X submitted data to the US Congress regarding a Brazilian court's content moderation demands. Later, Brazilian media reported that Elon Musk accused Judge Alexandre de Moraes of violating the constitution by attempting to block the accounts of several supporters of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro (2019-2022). Musk suggested that the judge must resign, threatening to publicly disclose the demands to block the accounts if he refused. 

De Moraes ordered an investigation into allegations that Musk had obstructed Brazilian justice and used social media to spread misinformation and destabilize the institutions of the democratic rule of law. The judge warned that Brazilian authorities would not tolerate a situation where billionaires abroad control social networks, violate the rule of law, ignore court orders, and threaten Brazil's agencies.

By Naila Huseynova