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Elon Musk’s X pays US$5.2 million in Brazil fines to wrong bank account

The payment was made to settle a dispute with a Brazilian judge who banned the platform in August

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Brazilian demonstrators during a protest against the country’s ban of X in Sao Paulo on September 7. Photo: Bloomberg
Elon Musk’s X has paid millions of dollars in fines in Brazil to settle a row with a judge who banned the platform in its biggest Latin American market over disinformation.
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But the platform transferred the money into the wrong account, Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who ordered the shutdown of X in August, said on Friday.

X, formerly known as Twitter, racked up US$5.2 million in fines for failing to comply with a series of court orders.

Moraes confirmed that the social network had paid the full amount but into a different account from the one on the court order and said it had ordered that the funds be immediately redirected.

Moraes blocked X on August 31 after Musk refused to remove dozens of right-wing accounts accused of spreading disinformation and failed to name a new legal representative in the country as ordered.

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X, which had 22 million users in Brazil before Moraes blocked it, hopes that payment of the penalties will settle the dispute.

Last week it said it had complied with the court’s other demands, including the appointment of a legal representative in Brazil.

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