New York: Elon Musk’s ongoing legal battle with a Brazilian Supreme Court judge has led SpaceX to instruct its employees not to travel to Brazil. In an internal email obtained by Bloomberg, SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell issued a warning urging employees to avoid any travel, whether for work or personal reasons, to Brazil due to the “seriousness of the situation.”
Sent last week, the email highlights SpaceX’s growing concerns over employee safety in light of the intensifying conflict between Musk and the Brazilian judiciary. Reports from The Wall Street Journal indicate that SpaceX is also working to relocate its few non-Brazilian employees based in the country.
While SpaceX has not detailed the exact risks its staff may face in Brazil, the advisory comes as Musk’s confrontation with the Brazilian Supreme Court, particularly Justice Alexandre de Moraes, deepens. Over the weekend, Brazil’s Supreme Court upheld Moraes’ decision to suspend access to Musk’s social media platform, X (formerly known as Twitter), for failing to comply with content moderation orders.
Justice Moraes accused X of ignoring court directives related to the removal of content that supported former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro. Moraes has been at the forefront of efforts to tackle disinformation, particularly election-related “fake news,” ever since launching an investigation in 2019 to address misinformation during Bolsonaro’s tenure.
The suspension was accompanied by hefty fines of over $3 million against X for non-compliance. Musk responded by condemning Moraes in a post on X, referring to him as an “evil dictator cosplaying as a judge.”
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In a further development, Brazil’s court also targeted SpaceX’s satellite internet service, Starlink, which currently serves more than 200,000 Brazilian customers. The court froze Starlink’s bank accounts, preventing the company from conducting any financial transactions within the country.
Despite these actions, Starlink has vowed to continue providing internet services to its Brazilian customers. In a post on X, the company announced it had begun legal action to reverse the court’s sanctions, stating, “We continue to pursue all legal avenues, as are others who agree that @alexandre’s recent orders violate the Brazilian constitution.”
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The mounting tensions mirror past incidents with other tech companies, such as Telegram, which was banned in Brazil last year for failing to comply with content moderation requests.
As Musk’s legal woes in Brazil escalate, SpaceX’s precautionary measures reflect concerns over the wider implications for the company’s operations in the country.
