BRASILIA, Jan 8 (Reuters) - Brazilian judge Alexandre de

Moraes, who last year had led the Supreme Court decision that

temporarily suspended social media platform X in the country,

said on Wednesday tech firms would need to comply with laws in

order to keep operating in Brazil.

Although he did not name any company, Moraes remarks come a

day after Meta announced through a video of Chief

Executive Mark Zuckerberg it would scrap its U.S. fact-checking

program and reduce curbs on discussions around contentious

topics such as immigration and gender identity.

At an event marking two years of riots in Brazil against

institutions, including the Supreme Court, Moraes said the

nation's top court will not allow technology companies to

exploit their use of hate speech for profit.

"In Brazil, (the companies) will only continue to operate if

they respect Brazilian legislation, regardless of the rant of

Big Tech managers," Moraes said.

Last year, social media platform X was suspended in Brazil

for more than a month for its failure to comply with the court

orders, including some related to moderation of hate speech.

The decision to suspend X came first from Moraes, as

Brazil's Supreme Court judges are able to exercise sweeping

powers to make unilateral decisions, but later it was

unanimously backed by a five-member panel of the court.

X owner and billionaire Elon Musk at the time denounced

Moraes' orders as censorship and called the judge a "dictator".

Later, X complied with the court demands, including blocking

some accounts, in order to resume its service in Brazil.

Also on Wednesday, Brazilian prosecutors ordered Meta

to clarify whether the changes to its fact-checking

program in the United States will also be applied to the South

American country.

Meta, which declined to comment through its office in

Brazil, was given 30 days to provide a response, a document seen

by Reuters showed.

The prosecutors said the order for further details was

related to an ongoing probe of the actions taken by social media

platforms to combat misinformation and violence online in

Brazil.