BRASILIA/SAO PAULO, Feb 21 (Reuters) -

Brazil's Supreme Court on Friday ordered the suspension of

U.S. video-sharing platform Rumble in the country,

citing its failure to comply with court orders, in a similar

path to the one faced by Elon Musk's X last year.

Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who also spearheaded the

country's tussle with X, said the suspension will last until the

platform names a legal representative for Brazil and complies

with other orders including the payment of pending fines, a

court decision showed.

Rumble, which in 2021 received an investment from a venture

capital firm co-founded by JD Vance, now the U.S. vice

president, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In a decision on Wednesday, Moraes had ordered Rumble to

appoint legal representation within 48 hours under risk of

immediate suspension. Brazilian law requires foreign companies

to have a legal representative to operate there.

Rumble cut access to users in Brazil in 2023, citing court

orders to deactivate accounts for some creators, which it vowed

to challenge.

The platform, however, went back online in the country

early this year. CEO Chris Pavlovski said Brazil had moved "to

rescind their censorship order on Rumble," without explaining.

In Moraes' latest decision, the judge ordered Brazil's

telecommunications regulator, Anatel, to take the needed

measures to fully suspend Rumble in the country within 24 hours.

Anatel said in a statement that service providers had

been made aware of the ruling and that it would monitor

compliance.

ACCOUNT TO BE BLOCKED

Moraes said he ordered Rumble on February 9 to block the

account of Allan dos Santos, a digital influencer close to

former President Jair Bolsonaro, and suspend the monetization of

his profile.

Brazilian courts notified a lawyer at Moraes' request, but

the law firm later clarified it did not represent Rumble in the

country.

Dos Santos, who currently lives in the United States, is

considered a fugitive in Brazil, as there is a warrant out for

his arrest as part of investigations into the spreading of

misinformation and hate.

Rumble and U.S. President Donald Trump's Trump Media &

Technology Group ( DJT ) earlier this week

sued Moraes

in Florida over accusations of illegal censorship, saying

his orders censor legitimate political discourse in the United

States.

Rumble alleged that Moraes violated free speech

protections of the United States when he ordered the suspension

of the "U.S.-based accounts of a specific well-known,

politically outspoken user." It did not name the person.

Pavlovski has said on X that the firm would not comply

with orders coming from Moraes, which he called "illegal."

Moraes, in his Friday ruling, argued that Pavlovski

"deliberately confuses censorship with the constitutional

prohibition of hate speech and the incitement of anti-democratic

acts."

The judge is also weighing

charges

brought against Bolsonaro earlier this week, which allege

he led a plot to overthrow Brazil's government and undermine the

country's democracy after his 2022 election loss.