Brazil will suspend X from operation after billionaire Elon Musk's company failed to name a legal representative in the country, a Brazilian Supreme Court justice ordered Friday.

The ban is the culmination of a monthslong feud between Justice Alexandre de Moraes and Musk over multiple matters. Moraes specifically asked internet providers in the country to block access to the site.

X said Thursday it would break the legal seal on Moraes's illegal demands and related court filings.

Unlike other social media and technology platforms, we will not comply in secret with illegal orders, the company said in a statement.

The Brazilian Supreme Court warned the company Wednesday that it had 24 hours to name a new legal representative before it would suspend the service. X's previous legal representative, the company said, was threatened with imprisonment and added that Brazil froze her bank accounts even after she resigned.

Our challenges against his manifestly illegal actions were either dismissed or ignored, the company said. Judge de Moraes' colleagues on the Supreme Court are either unwilling or unable to stand up to him.

We are absolutely not insisting that other countries have the same free speech laws as the United States. The fundamental issue at stake here is that Judge de Moraes demands we break Brazil's own laws. We simply won't do that, it added.

When the court demanded Musk name a legal representative, he posted a picture on X of a piece of toilet paper with Moraes's face on it.

Musk closed X's office in Brazil last week after Moraes threatened arrests if the company didn't ban X accounts that he said broke the nation's laws. Moraes has the power, since the country's 2022 elections, to order social media accounts he deems a threat to democracy and has often wielded that power.

Brazil will now be without one of the world's top social media platforms. But Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp remain the country's top-used apps, with X outside the top 3 in 2022.

Brazil ranks fourth globally with more than 25 million downloads of the X app, according to Appfigures.

Judge Alexandre de Moraes, do Supremo Tribunal Federal (STF), intimou nesta quarta-feira (28/08) o bilionário Elon Musk, dono da rede social X, para que indique em 24h quem é o representante legal da empresa no Brasil -- caso a ordem não seja cumprida, é prevista pena de imediata suspensão da mídia social.

A intimação, assinada por Moraes, foi postada pela conta do STF na própria rede social X (antigo Twitter), em resposta a uma postagem da equipe de relações governamentais internacionais da empresa, a Global Government Affairs.

Esse é mais um capítulo de uma queda de braço entre Moraes e Musk que já leva meses.

Como consequência da crise, em 17 de agosto, a rede X fechou seu escritório no Brasil e demitiu funcionários, embora a mídia social tenha permanecido no ar.

A decisão de fechar o escritório X no Brasil foi difícil, mas, se tivéssemos concordado com as exigências de censura secreta (ilegal) e entrega de informações privadas de @alexandre, não haveria como explicar nossas ações sem ficarmos envergonhados, escreveu Musk sobre o fechamento.

Na época, Musk iniciou uma ofensiva pública a Moraes, acusando-o de censura e ameaçando descumprir ordens judiciais. Musk chamou Moraes de ditador brutal e disse que o ministro tem o presidente Lula na coleira.

O bilionário passou então a ser investigado no STF em abril por acusações de obstrução à Justiça, organização criminosa e incitação ao crime. O bilionário também foi incluído no chamado inquérito das milícias digitais, que já tinha outros investigados.

A judge of the Supreme Federal Court (STF) of Brazil ordered on Wednesday for billionaire Elon Musk to name a legal representative for his messaging platform X in Brazil within 24 hours or face site suspension in the South American country.

Earlier this month, X announced that it would shut down operations and lay off its staff in Brazil due to what it called censorship orders from Judge Alexandre de Moraes. The service remained available to Brazilian users in the interim.

Moraes says under the country's internet regulation laws, companies that do not comply with Brazilian legislation or the confidentiality of private information could have their activities temporarily suspended.

Amid an escalating confrontation with the Brazilian judiciary, the Supreme Court issued another ultimatum, pushing Elon Musk to appoint a local representative or face immediate halting of X operations in the country.