SpaceX has taken steps to evacuate employees from Brazil and warned people against traveling to the country as Elon Musk’s standoff with Brazil’s Supreme Court over his social media platform X has increasingly affected his other businesses. In an email late last week, SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell advised employees not to travel to Brazil for vacation or work, The Wall Street Journal has learned. The company has also taken steps to evacuate a small group of its non-local employees from Brazil.
Musk’s dispute with Brazil’s Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes has been ongoing for months, with the official ordering X to remove accounts he believes are spreading hate and misinformation on the platform. In August, the social media company closed its office in Brazil, citing the need to ensure the safety of its staff.
Legal and Financial Implications
Last week, the court blocked X and said it would only overturn the decision if the platform complied with its demands, including paying a fine and appointing a legal representative in the country. The court also ordered the assets of SpaceX-owned satellite provider Starlink to be frozen and barred it from further financial transactions. The order was based on the court’s determination that Starlink should be held liable for the fines imposed on X. Investors who invest in Brazil’s economy recoiled from the move, and local politicians warned of the dangers of such measures.
Starlink, however, said it was doing everything it could to keep its Brazilian customers connected. The company has filed a lawsuit in Brazil’s Supreme Court, calling the ruling against it illegal. It has agreed to block access to X on its network in the country. Starlink’s involvement in the controversy, which initially erupted over X, illustrates how some officials in different countries do not differentiate between the businesses Musk runs. Starlink is particularly vulnerable in this regard, as the satellite provider must obtain permission to provide communications services from the local regulator in each country. As of the end of August, the operator had the right to operate in 105 countries around the world.
In recent years, Starlink has been actively expanding its presence in Brazil, where its services are already used by about 250 thousand customers, notes NIX Solutions. Satellite communications are in demand in the country’s agricultural regions and in the Amazon rainforest, where terrestrial connections may be unavailable or work intermittently. Given Brazil’s large population and many remote areas that are not well covered by terrestrial telecommunications infrastructure, the country is an important market for Starlink. A set of satellite equipment here costs $177, and the monthly subscription fee is $33. SpaceX is also actively concluding agreements to connect enterprises to Starlink – in the near future, Deere agricultural equipment operating in Brazil and the United States will acquire satellite communications.
We’ll keep you updated on any further developments in this ongoing situation between SpaceX, X, and the Brazilian authorities.