Minister Alexandre de Moraes, of the Federal Supreme Court (STF), said this Friday (4) that the social network X (formerly Twitter) deposited the amount of the fines into the wrong bank account. The value is R$28.6 million.
According to the minister’s decision, the amount was deposited in an account at Caixa Econômica Federal and not in the judicial account at Banco do Brasil.
“The deposit of R$28,600,000.00 was not made correctly in the account linked to these records,” said Moraes. “Despite its existence being fully known to the defendant in view of the blockages and deposits made previously”.
The information was provided to the judge by the Judicial Secretariat of the STF.
Moraes ordered Caixa to transfer the money to the correct account. The measure aims to regularize the payment of fines imposed on X.
The Court Secretariat must also confirm the completion of the transfer and the consequent payment of all fines imposed on the company.
Once the requirements were met, the minister determined that the case be forwarded to the Attorney General’s Office (PGR) for comment.
Only after this opinion will Moraes evaluate the unblocking of the platform. There is no set deadline for him to decide.
A CNN try to contact the platform representatives.
Earlier this Friday (4), Moraes had determined to the Court’s Judicial Secretariat that .
That’s because the . In the request, he sent proof of payment of fines.
Understand
OX informed the STF this week that the total of R$28.6 million in fines imposed by the Court will be paid “with its own resources (from abroad)”.
Payment of the amounts was a condition for the platform to be unblocked in the country. The suspension was determined on August 30th.
The sum of R$28.6 million involves new fines determined last week and a previous one, the values of which are already blocked. The amount is divided like this:
- R$ 10 million (the amount represents two days in which the social network was available to users in Brazil, disregarding the suspension order);
- R$ 18.3 million (the amount refers to fines for failing to comply with profile blocking decisions);
- R$ 300 thousand (amount imposed as a fine on the company’s legal representative, Rachel de Oliveira, who had been punished in August, along with the platform, for non-compliance with blocking orders).
The amount of R$18.3 million was blocked from the accounts of X and Starlink, a satellite internet company owned by Elon Musk, who also owns X.
This amount is in a Union account, as a guarantee of payment.
In practice, to guarantee complete payment, X will have to pay the full amount. This applies even to the value corresponding to the blocked amount.
In other words, X will have to pay R$28.6 million. Once the amount is paid, the blocked amount (R$18.3 million) returns to X and Starlink.
Conditions for returning
When he ordered X to be suspended on August 30, Moraes established conditions for the platform to return to operation. They are:
- comply with STF decisions to suspend nine profiles on the platform;
- appoint a legal representative in Brazil, with due proof from public bodies;
- pay all fines due for non-compliance with decisions.
The first two orders have already been accepted.
The suspension of X was confirmed unanimously by the first panel of the STF.
