The recent ban of X (formerly Twitter) by Brazil’s Supreme Court from operating within its borders has raised questions about whether similar bans could occur in other parts of the world, particularly in the United States and Europe.
Brazil’s highest court ordered the country’s telecoms regulator to shut down X across the nation of 212 million people, citing repeated violations of court orders and the spread of hate speech and misinformation. The ban, which took effect on Saturday, came after months of escalating tensions between X’s owner, Elon Musk, and Brazilian authorities over content moderation practices.
The court stated it would lift the ban when the platform complies with all legal requirements, pays outstanding fines, and appoints a legal director in the country. Anyone found accessing X in Brazil, even through VPN technology, could face daily fines of approximately $8,900. Newsweek reached out to X via email for comment.
While the First Amendment provides strong protections for free speech in the United States, social media companies are not entirely immune to regulation. For instance, X recently failed to block a California law requiring social media platforms to publicly disclose their content moderation practices.
The California law mandates that social media companies with substantial gross annual revenue issue semiannual reports describing their content moderation practices. These reports must provide data on the number of objectionable posts and how they were addressed.
A Brazilian user of X, formerly Twitter, browses posts on a cell phone in Brasilia on August 31, 2024. X is now banned in the country following an order from Brazil’s highest court.
EVARISTO SA/AFP/Getty Images
U.S. District Judge William Shubb dismissed X’s request to block the law, writing, “While the reporting requirement does appear to place a substantial compliance burden on social media companies, it does not appear that the requirement is unjustified or unduly burdensome within the context of First Amendment law.”
However, a block—partial or otherwise—is not outside the realms of possibility.
“As regards the U.S., it’s not impossible that one state could attempt to criminalize offering a service to another state. This is already happening with porn sites facing bans in some states (which may or may not be upheld by the courts),” TJ McIntyre, associate professor at the Sutherland School of Law, University College Dublin, Ireland, told Newsweek.
“However these [bans] tend to be enforced by the sites themselves geolocating users and refusing access to users in those states. Requiring ISPs (internet service providers) to block access to sites is very difficult under the First Amendment, and it is unlikely that a court would make such an order in the U.S. against a general social media site such as Twitter (X),” McIntyre said.
In Europe, the regulatory landscape for social media platforms is becoming increasingly stringent. The European Union has implemented the Digital Services Act (DSA), which sets strict rules for online platforms regarding content moderation and user safety.
Sandro Gozi, a senior EU representative of the French president, recently warned that X could face a ban in Europe if it fails to comply with the DSA. Non-compliance could result in massive fines and potential blockage by continental operators, Gozi said.
The DSA applies to all online intermediaries offering services in the EU, with stricter rules for very large online platforms (VLOPs) that reach more than 10 percent of 450 million consumers in Europe. These platforms face specific obligations to mitigate systemic risks, such as the spread of illegal content and societal harms.
McIntyre explained to Newsweek that there are also rules in place throughout the EU concerning not just the DSA but also other types of illegal content. “For example, Irish law allows for the blocking of foreign betting sites which are not authorized to offer services in Ireland. Russian state media sites have also been blocked as part of the sanctions following the invasion of Ukraine.”
The Brazilian ban on X, warnings from EU officials, and California’s law on disclosing content moderation practices highlight a growing trend of governments taking a more assertive stance on regulating social media platforms. This shift, driven by concerns over misinformation, hate speech, and the outsized influence of tech giants on public discourse, may only be the beginning.
