Media platform X (formerly Twitter) announced on Saturday the closure of its operations in Brazil following what it called “censorship orders” by Brazilian Supreme Federal Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes.

The platform noted that there is uncertainty in ensuring the safety of its employees following what it described as increasing threats from Moraes, including the possible arrest of their legal representative in Brazil.

In a post on X, Elon Musk expressed that the decision to shut down the platform’s office in Brazil was challenging. He suggested that complying with what he referred to as Moraes’ “illegal” demands for secret censorship and the handover of private information would have left the company unable to justify its actions without feeling ashamed.

In international law, Article 19 of the ICCPR, for example, to which Brazil is a state party, protects freedom of speech. However, hate speech is generally not protected by the right to free speech as Article 20 prohibits speech that incites discrimination, hostility, or violence based on national, racial, or religious grounds, under which hate speech is usually grouped.

In April, Moraes instructed X to block specific accounts as part of his investigation into “digital militias” accused of disseminating fake news and hate speech during former President Jair Bolsonaro’s administration. Following Musk’s criticism of the order as censorship that “violate[s] the law and will of the people of Brazil” and X’s defiance, Moraes opened a criminal inquiry into Musk, as X’s owner for possible obstruction of justice and incitement. Moraes also claimed that Musk’s defiance is part of a “disinformation campaign.”