Elon Musk has increased online attacks on a Supreme Court judge threatening to suspend social media platform X in Brazil, declaring him “an evil dictator” in a continuing feud between the two gentlemen. Justice Alexandre de Moraes had issued a warning to suspend X if Musk did not appoint a new legal representative of the company in Brazil and settle any unpaid daily fines within 24 hours. “Alexandre de Moraes is an evil dictator cosplaying as a judge,” the world’s wealthiest person wrote on X.

Musk, who had earlier called de Moraes “Darth Vader,” retweeted a statement of X’s Global Government Affairs team declaring it would publish the judge’s “illegal demands and all related court filings” shortly. Brazil is a key market for social media platforms. Around 40 million Brazilians, or roughly 18% of the population, access X at least once per month, according to the Associated Press.

The rubbish talk marks the most recent salvo in Musk’s feud with de Moraes, which centers on arguments over alleged spread of misinformation and free speech. X declared earlier this month that it would halt its operations and fire its staff in Brazil because of what it called “censorship orders” from the judge. De Moraes had passed an order asking to block several X accounts he said were spreading disinformation. The latest statement, which had the signature of de Moraes, was also shared on official X account of the Supreme Court, tagging both X’s Global Government Affairs account and Musk himself. The statement from the court was posted at around 8.30 p.m. local time on Wednesday, giving Musk time until Thursday evening local time to respond.

‘Censorship orders’

On August 17, X issued a lengthy statement saying it would be compelled to close operations and fire staff in Brazil because of de Moraes’ “censorship orders.” “Despite our numerous appeals to the Supreme Court not being heard, the Brazilian public not being informed about these orders and our Brazilian staff having no responsibility or control over whether content is blocked on our platform, Moraes has chosen to threaten our staff in Brazil rather than respect the law or due process,” said the X statement. “As a result, to protect the safety of our staff, we have made the decision to close our operation in Brazil, effective immediately. The X service remains available to the people of Brazil. We are deeply saddened that we have been forced to make this decision. The responsibility lies solely with Alexandre de Moraes.” Later the same day, Musk echoed the official X statement, saying his company had “no choice” but to stop Brazilian operations. “Due to demands by ‘Justice’ Alexandre [de Moraes] in Brazil that would require us to break (in secret) Brazilian, Argentinian, American and international law, X has no choice but to close our local operations in Brazil,” said he in an X post.