Brazil just banned X. Could other countries follow suit? - eviltoast
  • towerful@programming.dev
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    2 months ago

    https://www.business-standard.com/world-news/explained-why-brazil-s-supreme-court-banned-elon-musk-s-x-platform-124090200229_1.html

    Additionally, the judge froze the financial assets of Starlink, Musk’s satellite internet company, to cover unpaid fines amounting to 18.5 million reais ($3.28 million) imposed on X for non-compliance.

    So, exactly what Brazil has done?

    Edit:
    Some more detail on the daily fines imposed, and total fines due.
    https://www.theguardian.com/technology/article/2024/aug/30/elon-musk-x-could-face-ban-in-brazil-after-failure-to-appoint-legal-representative

    • Monomate@lemm.ee
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      2 months ago

      This freeze of Starlink’s financial assets is so absurd, that even Brazilian Speaker of the House (a big son of a bitch himself) criticized it. He made a comparison to another recent national scandal about retailer Americanas defrauding it’s accounting to hide the fact it is in deep debt. Its owner fled to Europe to avoid persecution. Under the same argument, they’d be authorized to freeze Ambev’s (beverage company which is partially owned by Americanas’ owner) assets to cover for Americanas’ debt.

      The insane judge that ordered the asset freeze is so blinded by his vendetta against Elon Musk that he does dumb shit like this, which is putting a big stain on Brazil credibility to foreign investors. If a single insane judge can do this on his whim, who would want to invest in Brazil?

      • emax_gomax@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        The key point here was 18.5 million in unpaid fines. If you wanna move the goal posts to liquidating related assets that’s fine, but you said due process has been skipped when very clearly due process was followed, musk ignored it and pretended to be above the law like he normally does, musk got his company banned.

        • Monomate@lemm.ee
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          2 months ago

          There are legal ways for the judicial system to recover assets. Going after other companies, even if Musk has 40% stake on Starlink, is madness. One thing does not justify the other.

      • towerful@programming.dev
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        2 months ago

        Sure, but the fines have gone unpaid.
        The private owner of the private company X has enough money to cover the fines.
        Brazil is now seizing assets to try and recover the amount due.

        X isn’t declaring bankruptcy. X is flaunting legal rulings and dodging fines.
        If that scares away “investors” that are going to skirt or flaunt laws, rulings and legality then it seems like a decent result for Brazil.

        • Monomate@lemm.ee
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          2 months ago

          No minimally serious country destroys the legal separation between different companies so brazenly. If it is for such a thing to happen, it’s only on exceptional circunstances, and only after the a full lawsuit concludes its natural course, giving all affected parties the right to offer their defenses. Anything far from these basic civilizational principles is no more than a whim from a dictator’s inflated ego.

          • towerful@programming.dev
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            2 months ago

            This is what “eat the rich” and “if a punishment is a fee, it’s an operating cost” mean. You get your company banned and personal assets seized. It’s delicious.

            Anyway, I’m not going to take your outrage seriously.
            First it was hell bent that no legal process had been done, which took me all of 2 seconds of googling to disprove.
            Now it’s that only uncivilised places would dare seize personal assets. And somehow still that no legal process has been done.

            This has been going on for months, with musk acting like the man-baby he is.
            https://www.cbsnews.com/news/brazil-elon-musk-x-twitter-free-speech-disinformation-obstruction/