Elon Musk vs. The Brazilian Supreme Court

From Tokyo, Japan and New Plymouth, New Zealand – this is Down to Business English. With your hosts Skip Montreux and Samantha Vega.

Samantha Vega! Hello!!

Hi Skip. Long time no see.

Yes, it has been a little while since you and I spoke.

It has. And now that I think of it, I haven’t seen you posting anything on Facebook either. Everything alright with you?

Yes, everything is just fine. But, I have just been off the grid for a bit.

Off the grid?

Yeah. I took a short break from social media.

Hm. Good for you. Any particular reason?

Not really. I just thought it would be good to take a break.

Nice idea. I think everyone could benefit from a social media detox once in a while. You heard what the US Surgeon General recently called for?

Mm. No, I didn’t.

Dr. Vivek Murthy has come out and said there is a mental health crisis in the US and is calling for a tobacco-style warning label to be placed on social media.

I wasn’t aware that there was a mental health crisis in the US. Neither did I know that they have established a link between mental illness and social media.

Well there is a lot of controversy surrounding the topic.

What is controversial?

First, the mental health crisis is among young people. And second, experts are saying that there has not been nearly enough research done to clearly establish a link between social media and mental health.

So why is the US Surgeon General calling for warning labels?

He says the US shouldn’t wait for ‘perfect information’ before doing something.

I am sure it is better to be safe than sorry, but it also sounds like the heavy hand of the government is getting involved. I always get nervous when governments start introducing regulations.

Well, it’s their job isn’t it?

Sure. But there is a difference between introducing a regulation that has been clearly researched and has a clear purpose, and a regulation that is just the result of a political party pushing their social agenda.

That is a problem too. But when it comes to the mental health of young people, I think it would be better to err on the side of caution.

Well, I really don’t know enough about this topic to be commenting. But in any event, it is somewhat similar to our topic for today’s show.

Is that right? What are we reporting on?

Have you been following the recent brouhaha surrounding Elon Musk and his social media platform X in Brazil?

I’m aware of some of the disputes he’s been involved in over X in the US and Australia, but not Brazil.

To be completely honest, I wasn't aware of this topic either until one of our D2B members in Brazil brought it to my attention.

What is going on?

It's quite a complex situation. But essentially, Elon Musk has found himself in a legal battle with Brazil's Supreme Court over content moderation on X.

Content moderation? An ongoing issue for social media platforms.

Indeed it is, but this case has some unique aspects.

Sounds interesting.

So let’s do it. Let’s get D2B … Down to Business with Elon Musk vs. The Brazilian Supreme Court.

So fill us in Skip. How did Elon Musk end up in a dispute with the Brazilian courts?

It all happened in April of this year when Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered X, formerly Twitter, to block certain user accounts.

And what was the reason for blocking these accounts?

The accounts belonged to people who were allegedly part of what is being called ‘digital militias’ in Brazil.

Hm. Digital militias?

It is a term given to organized groups who operate online and are typically associated with far-right political movements. And are linked to supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro. They have been accused of spreading disinformation with the intent of undermining Brazil’s democratic institutions.

And is any of that true?

I have no idea. I guess it depends on which side you are on.

It sounds very similar to the situation in the US where you have the MAGA, or Make America Great Again movement, supporting Donald Trump. He often gets accused of undermining the US democratic institutions, which he and his supporters vehemently deny.

There are parallels for sure.

And how did Musk get involved in this? Clearly, X is his company, but he is not involved in day to day business decisions I would imagine, or at least not with X in Brazil.

Well, whether he is or isn’t, Musk did take issue with these court orders. He publicly declared that X would ignore them and lift all restrictions on the blocked accounts.

That is a pretty strong stance.

He even went as far as to call Justice de Moraes to resign or be impeached, accusing him of betraying Brazil's constitution.

Pretty strong words. No wonder he is in hot water. How did the Brazilian authorities react?

As you might expect, they didn't take it lightly. Justice de Moraes responded by opening an investigation into Musk for alleged obstruction of justice. He also included Musk in a broader inquiry into these so-called ‘digital militias.’

Mm. That all sounds pretty serious.

Absolutely. I think Elon may have bitten off more than he can chew.

What are the potential consequences for X and Musk?

Well, a week after Musk said he would lift restrictions on blocked accounts, lawyers for X Brazil made a statement that the company would comply with the court’s request.

Musk backed down?

Either that or X Brazil management ignored their boss.

Well, he’s not really their boss. He may be the owner of X, but I think his role in the company is Chief Technology Officer and he probably doesn’t give orders directly to local staff.

Well it’s a good thing for that. If X Brazil hadn’t complied with the courts, the consequences would have been expensive. The platform would have faced fines of about $20,000 per day for each of the accounts it reactivated. And potentially X could have been banned in Brazil.

How is all of this being viewed within Brazil, by the public at large?

Opinions are divided. Some see Musk as a champion of free speech, while others view the court's actions as necessary to protect democracy and to fight the spread of disinformation.

So at this point in time, X Brazil is following the Supreme Court’s orders but their CTO, Elon Musk, is under investigation for obstruction of justice.

That is the situation, yes.

I know that Musk has been stirring things up in Australia too.

What can you tell us about that?

X has been involved in a legal dispute with the Australian eSafety Commissioner over how the platform handles violent content.

Violent content?

There was a stabbing incident at a Sydney church back in April. Someone posted the video of the attack on X, but the Australian government ordered it to be taken down.

Because it was too graphic?

Too graphic and the police deemed it a terrorist attack.

But X wouldn’t take it down I assume.

They did agree to take it down in Australia, but refused to take it down worldwide. The eSafety Commission actually took X to court over that but in the end lost.

So Elon won his fight in Australia.

Apparently. But I think both of these disputes highlight the challenges global companies face in navigating different legal and cultural norms across different countries.

I agree.

Concept of free speech in American culture may differ from the concept in Brazil or Australia.

And this is also part of a broader trend of increasing regulatory pressure on social media platforms worldwide.

Like what we were discussing earlier about the US Surgeon General calling for warning labels on social media.

That and the US ban on TikTok we reported on in June.

Another good example of government intervention. We will have to see how all this plays out.

Yes we will. And on that note, I think it is time for us to get D2V … Down to Vocabulary

First up on Down to Vocabulary today is the phrase ‘to be off the grid.’ When someone is off the grid they are out of contact with everyone. ‘ Skip: The grid’ in this idiom refers to the infrastructure of wires and cables that carry electricity from power stations into our homes and businesses. So when you are off the grid, you are not connected to the rest of the world. In the introduction of today's episode, I asked Skip why I hadn't seen him posting on Facebook recently.

I was saying that I was taking a short break from social media and disconnecting from the internet.

How would you use this in a business context, Skip?

One of my coworkers went on summer vacation this week. On his last day in the office, he and I had a meeting to talk about all the things I need to cover for him while he is away. It was an important meeting because while he is gone, I will not be able to get in touch with him as he will be completely off the grid for his entire holiday.

How long is he gone for?

A month!!

Lucky guy.

Tell me about it. Moving on, our next D2V item is the adverb ‘vehemently.’ When you do something in a strong, forceful, or intense manner, you do it vehemently.

In our report, I commented how Donald Trump and his supporters vehemently deny undermining democratic institutions in the US.

In other words, they strongly deny trying to weaken elections, the court system, and the human rights of others.

I was in a meeting last week discussing some new work policies management wants to introduce. I can’t tell you the details, but some of my colleagues are not very happy with them.

Mm. That’s not good.

No it isn’t. And in this meeting they vehemently disagreed with the company trying to put them in place.

Sounds like it was a stressful meeting.

Actually, it all worked out well in the end. We reached a compromise that everyone is happy with.

Nice.

Yes, it was a good way to end the week. Management and staff getting along.

You have got to like it when that happens.

Our final word for D2V today is the verb ‘to comply’. When you comply, you act or do something because some type of authority tells you to do it.

Like the police, or the government, or even your boss.

Yes. In the report, Skip reported that X Brazil’s lawyers released a statement saying that the company would comply with the court’s request.

The lawyers were saying that X would do what the court was telling them, and not lift the restrictions on the blocked X accounts.

Which was completely the opposite of what Elon Musk was saying. Can you give us an example using comply in a business context Skip?

Here in Japan, the government has some pretty serious personal information protection laws that companies must comply with.

What kinds of things does a company have to do to comply?

All personal information that a company collects must be stored digitally, and the servers the data is stored on must comply with certain data protection standards.

And if a company doesn’t comply?

If a company doesn’t comply with the regulations, they could receive a very expensive financial penalty from the government.

Something I’m sure every company would want to avoid.

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Thanks for that report on Elon Musk, X, and the Brazilian Supreme Court Skip.

Well I have to give a big shout out to D2B Executive Member Marcelo Udo in Brazil for the topic suggestion. This is actually just one of three topics Marcelo had suggested, and I'm sincerely grateful.

Thank you Marcelo!

Yes, thank you very much. If other listeners have business stories they would like us to report on don’t hesitate getting in touch with us via the Contact page on the Down to Business English website.

And D2B Members, the Bonus vocabulary for today’s episode is in the pipeline and will be released on your Members-only RSS feed very soon.

That’s right. The words and phrases we will focus on in that Bonus D2V episode will be — to err on the side of caution, to take something lightly, to bite off more than you can chew, stir things up, and intervention.

If you happen to be a D2B member and for some reason are not subscribed to your Members-only RSS feed, be sure to visit your Member account on the D2B website and get that RSS feed. That way you will get the Bonus D2V episode as soon as it’s released.

And if you are not a D2B member, please do consider becoming one. Memberships are a great way to help support the show. As a D2B member, you receive bonus vocabulary episodes, Member-only episodes, and have access to our new interactive audio scripts as well as the traditional PDF audio script library.

Those interactive audio scripts are a great learning tool as you can follow along with the script in real time.

They are also a great tool for shadowing practice.

They are.

To become a D2B member today just go to d2benglish.com/membership and sign up.

That’s d2benglish.com/membership.

Thanks for listening everyone. See you next time.

Take care.

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