X's global run-ins: A growing challenge for Elon Musk's social media platform
As Elon Musk's X faces increasing scrutiny, the platform has been banned or restricted in several countries, reflecting broader concerns.
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Since Elon Musk rebranded Twitter as "X", the platform has faced mounting challenges in navigating global regulations, resulting in exits, bans or severe restrictions in several countries. These actions underscore the tensions between global social media platforms and governments, particularly concerning content control, free speech and censorship.
While a ban would be unprecedented in the West, the platform has already been restricted in several countries worldwide. It is currently blocked in China, Iran, Myanmar, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.
Among these, Pakistan is the only country where the service was banned after Musk's takeover in 2022. This ban came into effect in February 2024, just before the country's election, a move that drew widespread criticism from democracy advocates.
In Europe, X has encountered significant challenges, particularly in France. The first major incident occurred in 2013 when a French judge ordered Twitter to reveal the identity of a user posting anti-Semitic tweets. Failure to comply would have resulted in hefty fines for the company. In 2022, French authorities again criticized the platform for its lax approach to misinformation after X withdrew from a voluntary EU code of practice on the issue.
Jean-Noël Barrot, former French digital minister, warned in March 2023 that "disinformation is one of the gravest threats weighing on our democracies" and suggested that Twitter could face a ban in the EU if it continued to violate regulations. While this threat has not yet materialized, X was banned from French government employees' phones in the same month, alongside TikTok.
Additionally, X faces partial restrictions in India, South Korea, and Tanzania, reflecting the platform's ongoing struggles to balance local regulations with its global operations.
More recently, in a dramatic move, X announced it will cease its operations in Brazil effective immediately. However, the platform will remain accessible to Brazilian users, despite the shutdown of its local operations.
The decision came as X found itself entangled in a high-profile legal battle with Brazil's Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes. Moraes had previously sought to block certain accounts on X as part of an investigation into election disinformation and alleged "digital militias."
In a statement posted on X's global government affairs account, the company claimed that Moraes had "threatened our legal representative in Brazil with arrest if we do not comply with his censorship orders." The statement further elaborated, "To protect the safety of our staff, we have made the decision to close our operations in Brazil, effective immediately. The X service remains available to the people of Brazil."
