Hey everybody, welcome back to the Elon Musk podcast.
This is a show where we discuss. The critical.
Crossroads That Shape, SpaceX, Tesla X, The Boring Company, and
Neuralink, and I'm your Host Will Walden One.
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Elon. Musk Podcast So Elon Musk is
currently defined a Brazilian Supreme Court order aimed at
censoring certain user content under the guise of combating
fake news. This legal conflicts shows that
there's a huge issue regarding freedom of expression and
freedom of speech and the role of social media in Brazil.
Now the Brazilian judiciary has demanded that X block content
from Brazilian users, which the court labels as false
information, are fake news. And Musk's refusal to comply
with these demands has led to significant legal scrutiny,
positioning him against Brazil's federal judiciary.
Now, the inquiry, known as Digital Militia investigation,
does not concern the common issues of controlling big tech's
influence, safeguarding democracy or child protection
online. Instead, it focuses on a
political clash involving the Supreme Court and critics of
Brazil's president. This indicates A politicized
judicial system as of right now. Now, critics argue that the
Supreme Court's actions represent a departure from
democratic norms, suggesting that the Brazilian judiciary no
longer operates independently. The scenario portrays A grim
situation for democracy in Brazil, which they claim is
deteriorating publicly. The controversy stems from the
court's attempts to silence commentators with opposing
political views, though, especially those who command
significant influence through social media platforms.
Musk and many Brazilians regard these actions as undemocratic
and indicative of a tyrannical approach to governance.
Now, historically, though, Brazil has championed civil
liberties with the constitution upholding freedom of speech.
This principle has been foundational since Brazil's
return to democracy all the way back in 1985, making the current
judicial actions against free speech particularly jarring.
Now the situation escalated following scandals involving the
Workers Party and former president Lula, who was
imprisoned in 2017 due to corruption charges.
These events tarnished the party's image and LED to a shift
in political power with the election of Bolsonaro in 2018.
Now Bolsonaro, a former army captain known for his
straightforward style, was elected on promises to uphold
privacy, private property rights, restore order and
freedom of speech, and challenging prevailing social
and political norms in Brazil. His support largely came from
that was disillusioned with the previous regime's corruption of
policies and despite his controversial manner and
rhetoric, Bolsonaro's administration made significant
strides in fiscal management, deregulation and improving the
business environment through digital initiatives.
Now by 2021, though, Bolsonaro's potential re election seemed
threatening enough to his opponents that efforts were
intensified to rehabilitate Lula's political image.
The Supreme Court annulled Lula's conviction, enabling him
to participate in the 2022 presidential race.
This judicial intervention sparked widespread dissent,
particularly online where Brazilians express their
disapproval. Now the electoral tribunal
responded by increasingly censored online speech and
targeting digital platforms to comply with their directives.
The punitive measures extended to financial sanctions and also
social ostracism, with some critics facing severe
repercussions like imprisonment and exile, often without due
process for merely questioning the legitimacy of Luda's
election victory. Now, despite the absence of
legislation supporting the judiciary stance on fake news,
the court persists in its demands for social media
platforms to block alleged misinformation, a stance that
Musk has publicly challenged now.
On April 6th, Musk highlighted the opaque nature of these
judicial orders on X, emphasizing the lack of
transparency about the reasons behind the blocking orders and
the identity of the missing authority.
He also noted the legal threats posed by non compliance,
including potential fines. Now, Musk's resistance took a
more active form when he recently unblocked several users
and threatened to disclose his communications with a Brazilian
court, arguing that the public deserves transparency about
these judicial interactions. There's another thing going on
at X. We'll touch on that real quick.
It's significant for its operations.
The platform's brand safety score, as rated by Double
Verify, was mistakenly low due to a display error affecting
advertiser confidence and investment in the company.
Now they have to keep the lights on in order to keep this fight
going with Brazil. Now the misinformation about XS
brand safety persisted for several months, though,
influencing advertising decisions detrimentally.
The correction of this error in Musk's ongoing public fight
against censorship in Brazil shows that X is in a tough spot
right now. They're not making a lot of
money, they're doing OK. But this brand awareness from
Double Verify, the brand safety score could hurt them, and it
was months in the making. So I'm expecting a lawsuit from
Elon Musk and X in the future for this.
Check, check. Hey, thank you so much for
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