*

Thursday night deadline to force Musk's X to comply

expires

*

Judge Moraes blocks Starlink's accounts over lack of X

legal rep

*

Musk calls Moraes a criminal, denounces actions as

censorship

*

X users divided on Moraes' decisions amid debate over

speech

(Adds X working normally in paragraph 3, Musk comment in

paragraph 6-7, Lula comment in paragraph 21)

By Ricardo Brito, Luana Maria Benedito and Andre Romani

BRASILIA/SAO PAULO, Aug 29 (Reuters) - Social media

giant X said on Thursday it expects Brazil's top court to order

it to shut down, as a pitched legal battle plays out over

compliance with local laws and owner Elon Musk's insistence the

platform is being punished for resisting censorship.

X said it expected Supreme Court Judge Alexandre de Moraes

to order the shutdown "soon," after a court-imposed deadline for

the company to identify a legal representative in Brazil passed

on Thursday evening.

Just before midnight, X was still working normally in the

country.

Earlier on Thursday, the Supreme Court blocked the local

bank accounts of billionaire Musk's Starlink satellite internet

firm, while the underlying feud over X put it on the brink of

being shuttered in one of its top markets.

The two firms are part of Musk's sprawling business empire

which also includes rocket company SpaceX and electric car giant

Tesla. The billionaire owns X and 40% of SpaceX, and is the CEO

of Tesla.

In a series of Thursday night comments on X, Musk lashed out

at Moraes, labeling the judge an "evil dictator" in a newly

pinned post. He also decried the ruling to block Starlink as

illegal, and claimed the action "improperly" punishes other

shareholders as well as ordinary Brazilians.

Musk also announced that Starlink-parent SpaceX will provide

free internet service to Brazilian users "until this matter is

resolved."

LIES AND CENSORSHIP

Signed by Moraes, the court's decision to sanction Starlink

is a response to the lack of legal representatives in Brazil for

X, a Supreme Court source told Reuters.

The decision to freeze Starlink's bank accounts also stems

from a separate dispute over unpaid fines that X was ordered to

pay due to its failure to turn over some documents. Local

newspaper Folha has reported the fines total at least 20 million

reais ($3.6 million), but Reuters was not able to confirm the

amount.

The Supreme Court had set a deadline for X to name its legal

representative in Brazil by shortly after 8:00 p.m. (2300 GMT)

on Thursday.

Brazilian law requires all internet companies to have a

legal representative in the country who can receive judicial

orders and otherwise be legally responsible for the business.

At issue in the intensifying dispute is whether Moraes can

order X to block certain accounts accused of spreading lies and

distortions, a request Musk has denounced as censorship.

Most of the accounts ordered blocked are run by backers of

far-right former President Jair Bolsonaro, some of which deny he

lost his 2022 reelection bid.

In a previous post, Musk complained that Moraes "is an

outright criminal of the worst kind, masquerading as a judge."

Starlink, in its own post, accused the judge of secretly

issuing the order without due process.

JUDGE V. BILLIONAIRE

The cumulative digital and legal disputes could cause X to

lose one of its largest and most coveted markets, at a time when

Musk has struggled with advertising revenue for the platform.

Earlier this month, X announced it would close operations

and fire its staff in Latin America's largest economy due to

what it called "censorship orders" from Moraes, while keeping

its service available for Brazilian users.

At the time, X claimed Moraes secretly threatened one of the

company's legal representatives in Brazil with arrest if it did

not comply with legal orders to take down some content.

In his own swipe at X, Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula

da Silva pinned a post on the platform late on Thursday, listing

six other social media accounts along with links to them.

Moraes has stressed that companies that do not respect local

laws or the confidentiality of private information could have

their activities temporarily suspended.

Earlier this year, the judge ordered X to block certain

accounts implicated in investigations of so-called digital

militias accused of spreading distortions and hate during

Bolsonaro's term in office.

After Musk challenged that decision and said he would

reactivate accounts on X that the judge had ordered blocked,

Moraes opened an April inquiry into Musk's businesses.

X representatives eventually reversed course and told the

Supreme Court it would obey the rulings. In April, however,

Moraes asked X to explain why it had not fully complied.

In response, X lawyers cited "operational faults" that had

allowed users ordered blocked to stay active on the platform.

Amid the high-stakes showdown, many Brazilians took to X to

make light of the saga, including thousands who posted creative

"memes" spotlighting the hard-charging judge and the

controversial billionaire.

Some X users criticized the ruling signed by Moraes, arguing

he was undermining freedom of speech, while others sided with

Moraes, insisting that Musk must comply with Brazilian law.

X, formerly known as Twitter, is widely used in Brazil, and

is an important means of communication in particular for

politicians.

($1 = 5.6286 reais)

(Reporting by Ricardo Brito in Brasilia and Luana Maria

Benedito and Andre Romani in Sao Paulo; Writing by David Alire

Garcia; Editing by Christian Plumb, Matthew Lewis, Deepa

Babington, Diane Craft and Lincoln Feast.)