News Summaries in August 2024
“Brazilian Judge Orders Suspension of X in Disinformation Battle,” Washington Post, August 30, 2024 Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered August 30 the suspension of X, formerly known as Twitter, in Latin America’s largest country. De Moraes took that step a day after X owner Elon Musk refused to meet his request that he station a representative of X in Brazil to respond to government requests to suspend accounts found to be spreading fake news. In refusing, Musk said anyone he appointed would be subject to the possibility of arrest. De Moraes also froze the bank accounts of Musk’s Starlink company in his unsuccessful effort to get Musk to appoint a representative. Musk accused him of being a dictator “cosplaying as a judge.” He said de Moraes is acting as a censor and is destroying democracy. The defenders of de Moraes see him as a champion of efforts to combat disinformation that undermines democracy. The decision didn’t immediately shut X down but could a...