Brazil agrees to resume Elon Musk's X only if THIS condition is fulfilled

Brazil's Supreme Court said on Friday that Elon Musk's social platform X still needs to pay just over $5 million in pending fines, including a new one, before it will be allowed to resume its service in the country, according to a court document.

Earlier this week, the tech billionaire's firm, based in the United States, requested the Brazilian court to lift a ban on the platform after complying with the court's orders to halt spread of misinformation, Reuters reported.

However, Judge Alexandre de Moraes ruled that the firm and its legal representative in Brazil must still pay a total of $3.4 million in pending fines that were previously ordered by the court.

In his decision, the judge said that the court can use resources already frozen from X and Starlink accounts in Brazil, but to do so the satellite company, also owned by Musk, had to drop its pending appeal against the funds blockage.

The judge also demanded a new $1.8 million fine related to a brief period last week when X became available again for some users in Brazil.

While X hasn't officially commented on the matter, a person close to the tech firm revealed that the firm will likely pay all the fines, but will consider challenging the extra $1.8 million fine that was imposed by the court after the ban.

X has been suspended since late August in Brazil, one of its largest and most coveted markets, after Moraes ruled it had failed to comply with orders related to restricting hate speech and naming a local legal representative.

Musk, who had denounced the orders as censorship and called Moraes a "dictator," backed down and started to reverse his position last week, when X lawyers said the platform tapped a local representative and would comply with court rulings.

In Friday's decision, Moraes said that X had proved it had now blocked accounts as ordered by the court, and also named the required legal representative in Brazil.