The social network X informed, this Tuesday (1st), that it will pay the new fines determined by minister Alexandre de Moraes, of the (STF).
In total, the value adds up to R$28.6 million. As the company told the STF, the amount will be paid “with its own resources (from abroad)”.
The payment of the amounts was necessary for the platform to be unblocked in the country. The suspension was determined on August 30th.
In a decision this Tuesday (1st), Moraes also reiterated a decision for the Central Bank to unblock X’s bank accounts.
“I determine that the Central Bank of Brazil and the CVM (Securities Commission) carry out the immediate unblocking determined and inform the reason for non-compliance with the decision of September 11, 2024”, said Moraes.
The request came from , to guarantee the payment of fines.
“It is determined that a new letter be issued to the Central Bank of Brazil, so that, as a matter of urgency, it can regularize the situation of X Brasil before that body, authorizing it to receive international transfers of values so that it can immediately pay the indicated fines, in full compliance with the aforementioned decision given by your excellency on September 27, 2024”, said X’s lawyers, in the request to Moraes.
Fines
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.