Brazil's Supreme Court has announced the lifting of the ban on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.
In his ruling, Judge Alexandre de Moraes said he had authorized the “immediate return” of X's activities in the country after the company paid heavy fines and blocked accounts accused of spreading false information.
According to a statement, the site paid fines totaling 28 million reais ($5.1 million; £3.8 million) and agreed to appoint a local representative, as required by Brazilian law.
Moraes had blocked access to the platform, owned by Elon Musk, after refusing to ban several profiles considered by the government to be spreading disinformation about the 2022 Brazilian presidential election.
Anatel, Brazil's telecommunications watchdog, was tasked with ensuring the resumption of service for more than 20 million users in the country within 24 hours.
After months of defying court orders, Musk fired the company's Brazilian staff in late August and closed X's office in Brazil.
“The decision to close the X offices in Brazil was difficult,” Musk, who also heads electric car maker Tesla and rocket company SpaceX, wrote at the time.
A self-proclaimed “free speech absolutist,” the billionaire entrepreneur called Judge Moraes’ decision to ban several dozen accounts an abuse of power and a violation of freedom of expression.
A few days later, Judge Moraes ordered the entire platform to be blocked nationwide.
Many users turned to alternative sites such as Bluesky, and the demand for VPNs (Virtual Proxy Networks) in Brazil exploded.
But in September, the platform began complying with court orders, in an apparent reversal.
On Tuesday, X said he was “proud to return to Brazil”.
“Giving tens of millions of Brazilians access to our much-needed platform was paramount throughout this process,” its government affairs team wrote in a statement.
It appears that X has now acceded to all of the judge's demands for the ban to be lifted.
Brazil is one of the platform's largest markets in the world, as well as the largest in Latin America, with around 22 million users.
