What are the impacts on X’s image after Musk’s attacks on the Brazilian and Australian courts

Experts assess the consequences of the businessman’s actions for the social network

After having Brazil on target, the hot spot for Elon Musk is Australia. The billionaire, owner of X, the former Twitter, has now decided to attack the Australian court, which, in a decision, ordered that images of an alleged terrorist attack in Sydney be removed.

The Federal Court of Australia ordered X to temporarily hide publications showing video of the incident, in which a young man was accused of terrorism for stabbing a priest and other people.

OX even reported that the publications had already been blocked, however, the country’s electronic security commissioner stressed that the content should be removed, as it contained explicit scenes of violence.

Musk, who bought Twitter in 2022, has as his main stated purpose what he calls ‘saving the world’s freedom of expression’. Here, on the 6th, the conflict between Elon Musk and judge Alexandre de Moraes, minister of the Federal Supreme Court (STF), brought to light discussions about regulating platforms.

On his account, Musk asked Alexandre de Moraes: “Why are you demanding so much censorship in Brazil?” The provocation was launched in an old post on Moraes’ official profile on X, which praised the appointment of Ricardo Lewandowski as Minister of Justice and Public Security.

The billionaire then launched a series of complaints. He said that the platform “was forced, by court decisions, to block popular accounts in Brazil”, and that they would all be reactivated. He also threatened to close the Brazilian office.

Fall and image
A report released at the beginning of the year by the investment company Fidelity estimated that the value of the old Twitter had reduced by 71.5% in relation to its price during the purchase, in 2022.

Fidelity, which has a stake in X Holdings Corp., had already reduced the estimated value of the platform to a third of the original value, US$44 billion.

And all of this takes place at a time of turbulence with countries whose markets are important to X, such as Brazil. Marcelo Crespo, coordinator of ESPM’s law courses and specialist in digital law, says that it is not possible to measure the cracks in the image of Musk’s company.

“But it is natural and expected that legal consequences will eventually arise, especially more due to the fact of failing to comply with court orders than actually criticizing how laws and court judgments work”, he states.

Mariana Munis, professor of the marketing course at Universidade Presbiteriana Mackenzie de Campinas, warns that it could compromise credibility with stakeholders, in addition to impacting the risks of investing capital in the company, in a process of devaluation that was already happening after Musk bought the company .

In October 2022, the South African purchased the then-Twitter for US$44 billion; a year later, the company was worth US$19 billion.