Elon Musk lashes out after Brazil freezes Starlink bank accounts: ’Lapdog, tyrant’

Elon Musk, the owner of X and Tesla's Chief Executive Officer (CEO), slammed Brazil's top court judge over the blocked bank accounts of Starlink internet firm on Thursday. In a series of posts on X, Musk called the Supreme Court Judge Alexandre de Moraes “an evil dictator cosplaying as a judge,” “outright criminal of the worst kind,” and a “tyrant.”

Musk also lashed out at Brazil President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, calling him Moraes's "lapdog". He said, “The tyrant, @Alexandre, is dictator of Brazil. Lula is his lapdog [sic]."

Why was Starlink sanctioned?

Starlink confirmed in a sequence of posts on X that an order from the Supreme Court froze the company’s finances and prevented it from conducting financial transactions in Brazil.

Brazil's Supreme Court Judge Alexandre de Moraes signed the order.

Starlink is the satellite internet service of rocket technology company SpaceX, part of Musk's sprawling business empire, which also includes electric car giant Tesla.

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 accounts also stems from a separate dispute over unpaid fines that the Brazilian Supreme Court Justice ordered X to pay due to its failure to turn over some documents. Local newspaper Folha reported the fines total at least 20 million reais ($3.6 million), but Reuters could not confirm the amount.

X ban looms

On Wednesday, Brazil Supreme Court judge Moraes threatened to block X in Brazil if the company did not appoint a legal representative in the country by Thursday night.

The Supreme Court said that the time allowed for Musk's popular social media platform, X, to name its legal representative for Brazil would expire at 8:07 pm (2307 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.

“Soon, we expect Judge Alexandre de Moraes will order X to be shut down in Brazil – simply because we would not comply with his illegal orders to censor his political opponents. These enemies include a duly elected Senator and a 16-year-old girl, among others,” X's global government affairs account said in a post.

How Musk responded

Musk responded to the order with an AI-generated picture of a man resembling Moraes behind bars. “One day, Alexandre, this picture of you in prison will be real. Mark my words [sic],” Musk posted.

In another post, Musk said many remote schools and hospitals depend on SpaceX’s Starlink. “SpaceX will provide Internet service to users in Brazil for free until this matter is resolved, as we cannot receive payment, but don’t want to cut anyone off [sic],” he said.

He said SpaceX and X are two completely different companies with different shareholders. Musk informed he owns about 40 percent of SpaceX. "So this absolutely illegal action by the dictator @alexandre improperly punishes other shareholders and the people of Brazil [sic]," he said.

Musk also lashed out at the Supreme Court judge and said, “This guy @Alexandre is an outright criminal of the worst kind, masquerading as a judge [sic].” 

He posted on X, “Alexandre de Moraes is an evil dictator cosplaying as a judge [sic].”