Brazil Begins Hunt for ‘Extreme’ Cases of Twitter VPN Ban Abuse

Tweeting could now cost Brazilians nearly $9,000 a day, as Brazil’s Federal Police (the country’s FBI equivalent) has been authorized to investigate users who defied a nationwide ban on Elon Musk’s social network, X (formerly known as Twitter). The penalty for using X during the suspension is equivalent to nearly three years worth of salary for a minimum-wage earner.

“I order the Federal Police to monitor extreme cases of the use of ‘X,’” said an order filed last week by Brazilian Judge Alexadre de Moraes. The judge ordered the Federal Police to identify anyone posting tweets after the ban and, “if the behavior is maintained or repeated,” apply hefty fines. The Federal investigators are already searching for use and abuse cases without any further elaboration on the methods used to identify infractors.

High-profile politicians, including Eduardo Bolsonaro—son of former president Jair Bolsonaro—and Senator Marcos do Val, are under investigation for allegedly using VPNs to access the platform, according to a report by Brazilian media outlet Metropoles. Investigators are focusing on the digital footprints left behind by these people, and the penalties they face could be steep if they repeatedly bypassed restrictions.

Not surprisingly, for many Brazilians, the legal risks and the growing fines have created a tense environment. One Brazilian X user who accessed the platform via VPN after the suspension described the anxiety of using X for work. “I don’t know how the (Federal Police) investigation works, and I can’t afford to pay even 10% of that daily fine,” the user told Decrypt, “but I gotta make a living.”

Even Elon Musk was having second thoughts after being hit with $4.2 million in fines, and seemed to be looking for a way to end the free-speech fight he started in August. That’s when Musk closed X’s offices in the country and refused to comply with a court order demanding X remove over 100 accounts that were either involved in spreading misinformation regarding the legitimacy of the 2022 election results or were accused of spreading hatred.

More recently, he amped up his rhetoric, likening Judge de Moraes to the Harry Potter villain Voldemort and exhorting Brazilians to use VPNs to circumvent the ban.

But Musk reversed course on Friday, when X suddenly started to comply with the Court’s orders. He re-appointed Rachel de Oliveira Villa Nova Conceição as X’s legal representative in Brazil, a month after her resignation for “strictly personal” reasons. Yet X’s about-face was still under review by the Supreme Court on Monday, which had not yet officially confirmed receipt of the necessary documentation.

As X scrambles to comply with Brazil’s court orders, many users have already jumped ship. In the wake of the platform’s ban, millions of Brazilians have apparently migrated to Bluesky, a decentralized platform founded by former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey.

Bluesky’s user base surged to over 10 million in just a few days, a record growth spurt.

Some ex-X users say they probably won’t return to Musk’s platform even if it is reinstated. “It’s so toxic and destroys my mood,” said Matt Bixler, a former X user who immigrated to Bluesky.

Still, others want to go back because it’s the biggest platform of its kind. And, in typical Brazilian fashion, some social media “refugees” are making fun of the whole thing.