X said a “switch in internet providers inadvertently and temporarily restored service” in Brazil.
Elon Musk-owned X (formerly Twitter) recently defied an order issued by the Brazilian Supreme Court under which the company was prohibited from evading the ban in the country.
If the microblogging site had evaded, it would have to pay $921,726.95 daily.
After upgrading its communication network on Wednesday, X became accessible to several users in Brazil, which incidentally directly breached the order.
Reports claim that already, Brazil had already imposed on X a penalty of $921,726.95. X said on Wednesday that a change in the network provider had resulted in “an accidental and temporary service restoration” in Brazil.
The company further said it is still working to cooperate with the Brazilian government to resume service “very soon.”
In a grim culmination of a long and bitter fight between Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Brazilian judge Justice Alexandre de Moraes, the Supreme Court ordered the country’s mobile and internet service providers to cut off access to the platform this month, cutting off its users within hours.
Moraes wrote in his order, “There is no doubt that X, under Elon Musk’s direct command, again intends to disrespect Brazil’s Judiciary.” He added that X had a “strategy” to disobey the ban.
The Brazilian law firm Pinheiro Neto Advogados, which represents X in the country’s Supreme Court, refused to comment Thursday.
In the past, courts have limited accounts linked to investigations into allegations of hate speech and disinformation—activities Musk has claimed represent censorship. As Brazilian law demands, the courts have also ordered X to find a local representative.
Brazil’s national telecommunications agency said it is working aggressively to cut off access to the country through Cloudflare, the content delivery network that X used to evade previous restrictions.
