X update allows app to bypass Brazil ban: Internet providers

Elon Musk’s X social network carried out an automatic update overnight on phone applications that allowed it to bypass a ban in Brazil, an association of internet providers said Wednesday.

Some Brazilian users were surprised to have access again to the platform, formerly Twitter, from their phones after a Supreme Court judge last month ordered its shutdown in a bitter legal standoff with Musk.

The Brazilian Association of Internet and Telecommunications Providers (ABRINT) explained that the return of X was due to an update of the app to Cloudflare software that uses constantly changing IP addresses.

The previous system used specific IPs, which act like a home address for servers or computers and could more easily be blocked.

The changes “make blocking the app much more complicated,” said ABRINT.

Many of the dynamic IPs “are shared with other legitimate services, such as banks and large internet platforms, making it impossible to block an IP without affecting other services,” the group said.

“Internet providers are in a delicate position,” and awaiting technical analysis and instructions from Brazil’s telecommunications agency, said ABRINT.

Brazil’s shutdown of X infuriated Musk and has fueled a fierce debate on freedom of expression and the limits of social networks, both inside and outside the country.

The social media platform has more than 22 million users in Brazil.

The hashtag “Twitter is back” was one of the most used on Wednesday in Brazil.

Ongoing feud

Judge Alexandre de Moraes last month ordered X to be banned after Musk refused to remove dozens of right-wing accounts and then failed to name a new legal representative in the country as ordered.

Moraes has repeatedly clashed with the South African-born billionaire after making it his mission to crack down on disinformation.

Last week he ordered the transfer of some $3 million from Musk’s companies to pay fines incurred by X.

Moraes also froze the assets of X and Starlink, which has been operating in Brazil since 2022—especially in remote communities in the Amazon—to ensure payment of fines imposed on X for its failure to follow court orders.

Musk reacted angrily to the suspension, calling Moraes a “dictator” and repeatedly targeting the judge in posts to his 198 million followers on X.

Moraes also ordered that those using “technological subterfuges” such as virtual private networks (VPNs) to access the blocked site could be fined up to $9,000.

“Judge Alexandre de Moraes: I didn’t use a VPN to get in here, I just opened the app… and saw that it worked,” wrote one user on X Wednesday.

Leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva had hailed the ban.

His far-right predecessor Jair Bolsonaro was staunchly against it, and welcomed the technical tweak which brought X back online.

“I congratulate all those who have pushed to defend democracy in Brazil,” he wrote on the platform.

© 2024 AFP