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Brazil's conservative Partido Novo seeks to reverse ban on

X

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Party also questions freeze on accounts of Musk's Starlink

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Supreme Court justice to take X challenge to panel or

dismiss

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Brazil Bar Association questions fining those accessing X

by VPN

By Luciana Magalhaes and Ricardo Brito

SAO PAULO, Sept 5 (Reuters) - A conservative party in

Brazil is seeking to reverse a judge's ban on Elon Musk's X

platform, potentially escalating the months-long feud over

censorship and hate speech in South America's largest country.

Partido Novo's challenge of the decision by Supreme Court

Justice Alexandre de Moraes barring the popular social media

site will be taken up by another top court judge, complicating

the high-stakes row with the billionaire's business empire.

"This is about freedom of expression - we want X back to

normal in Brazil," Jonathan Mariano, a federal prosecutor and

Partido Novo candidate for Rio de Janeiro's city council, told

Reuters.

Moraes last week ordered X blocked in its sixth-biggest

market after the platform, formerly Twitter, failed to comply

with orders to block some accounts accused of spreading "fake

news" and hate messages that the judge said were a threat to

democracy. He also froze the assets of Musk's Starlink satellite

broadband firm for possible use to pay fines owed by X.

Musk, who has called Moraes a "dictator," accused him of

"shutting down the #1 source of truth in Brazil." X has shut its

Brazil offices over what it called "censorship" by the judge.

Partido Novo sought a court injunction this week to halt

Moraes' ban of X, saying it was unconstitutional. The party also

questioned the freezing of Starlink assets, arguing that the two

firms are separate entities.

Moraes declined to comment on Wednesday about the party's

challenges. Musk, his lawyer and Starlink did not respond to

repeated requests for comment this week.

COURT CHALLENGE EXPECTED TO MOVE QUICKLY

Partido Novo's request will be taken up by Justice Kassio

Nunes Marques, who was appointed by far-right former President

Jair Bolsonaro. He is expected to take the case to a wider court

panel or dismiss it.

No date has been set for a decision, but Marques is expected

to move quickly, given the reverberations from Moraes' moves

against Musk's entities. Marques could not immediately be

reached for comment.

Musk, in addition to owning X and 40% of Starlink parent

SpaceX, is the CEO of electric vehicle giant Tesla.

Brazil's leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has

backed Moraes' decision to suspend X, saying, "Just because a

guy has a lot of money doesn't mean he can disrespect" the law.

Musk derided the president as Moraes' "lapdog."

Moraes' decision was backed by one of the Supreme Court's

two panels, although some experts said a wider consensus should

have been sought.

"Such a controversial issue should have been debated by all

11 justices, not just by half of them," said Sao Paulo-based

constitutional lawyer Vera Chemim, who argued the case boils

down to a battle for power between Musk and Moraes.

Chemim said the freezing of Starlink's accounts violates

Brazilian law and should be immediately reversed.

But a former Supreme Court chief justice, Carlos Ayres

Britto, disagreed. "X and Starlink are tentacles of the same

octopus, they form an economic group," he said.

Partido Novo is not the only group questioning Moraes'

decision. Brazil's Bar Association has also asked the Supreme

Court to reverse Moraes' order to fine Brazilians 50,000 reais

($8,900) a day for using VPNs to access X in the country.

The association argued that imposing fines violates the

constitutional principles of separation of powers, full defense

and due process.