The
face
of
walking
with
his
tail
between
his
legs.
(Photo
by
Apu
Gomes/Getty
Images)
If
you
let
Elon
Musk
tell
it,
he’s
a
free
speech
absolutist
who
cannot
be
threatened
with
money
or
forced
to
submit
to
anyone’s
whims.
If
you
look
at
concrete
actions,
you’d
see
that
Twitter
has
been
far
more
acquiescent
to
government
takedown
requests.
A
counterpoint
could
be
that
he
stood
on
principle
and
refused
to
appoint
a
legal
representative
to
Brazil
and
pay
a
~$5
million
dollar
fine
even
if
it
meant
losing
~20M
potential
customers.
Well,
Twitter
is
currently
in
a
position
to
recoup
that
audience,
and
you’ll
never
guess
what
happened.
BBC
has
coverage:
Brazil’s
Supreme
Court
has
said
it
is
lifting
a
ban
on
the
social
media
platform
X,
formerly
known
as
Twitter.In
his
decision,
Justice
Alexandre
de
Moraes
said
that
he
authorised
the
“immediate
return”
of
X’s
activities
in
the
country
after
it
paid
hefty
fines
and
blocked
accounts
accused
of
spreading
misinformation.According
to
a
statement,
the
site
has
paid
fines
totalling
28
million
reais
($5.1m;
£3.8m)
and
agreed
to
appoint
a
local
representative,
as
required
by
Brazilian
law.
All
that
grandstanding
just
to
cave
to
the
judge’s
(quite
reasonable)
demands?
He
should
have
skipped
the
foreplay
and
just
did
what
the
court
demanded
last
month!
Since
then,
millions
of
Brazilians
have
migrated
to
other
social
media
platforms
like
Threads
and
Bluesky.
Will
they
abandon
the
internet
community
they’ve
built
up
over
the
month
to
go
back
to
the
bird
app?
Only
time
will
tell.
For
those
who
do
return,
Welcome
back
to
Twitter,
Brazil!
You
have
a
lot
of
catching
up
to
do!
Brazil
Lifts
Ban
On
Musk’s
X
After
It
Pays
$5m
Fine
[BBC]
Earlier:
Elon
Musk
Would
Rather
Have
Twitter
Shut
Down
Than
Take
The
Smallest
Amount
Of
Responsibility
Chris
Williams
became
a
social
media
manager
and
assistant
editor
for
Above
the
Law
in
June
2021.
Prior
to
joining
the
staff,
he
moonlighted
as
a
minor
Memelord™
in
the
Facebook
group Law
School
Memes
for
Edgy
T14s.
He
endured
Missouri
long
enough
to
graduate
from
Washington
University
in
St.
Louis
School
of
Law.
He
is
a
former
boatbuilder
who
cannot
swim, a
published
author
on
critical
race
theory,
philosophy,
and
humor,
and
has
a
love
for
cycling
that
occasionally
annoys
his
peers.
You
can
reach
him
by
email
at [email protected] and
by
tweet
at @WritesForRent.