BRASILIA (Reuters) – Elon Musk’s social media company X has appointed a legal representative in Brazil, lawyers for the company said on Friday, a move that would address one of the demands imposed by Brazil’s Supreme Court to allow the company to operate in the country.
Andre Zonaro and Sergio Rosenthal, who were recently appointed as X’s lawyers in Brazil, told Reuters that their colleague Rachel de Oliveira Conceicao had been chosen as the company’s legal representative and that they had submitted her name to the Supreme Court.
Brazilian law requires foreign companies to appoint a legal representative to operate in the country. The representative handles the company’s legal responsibilities locally.
Company X had a legal representative in Brazil until mid-August, when it decided to close its offices in the country.
In late August, Brazil’s Supreme Court ordered mobile and internet providers to block X in the country, and users were cut off from service within hours after the site failed to name a new legal representative.
The move comes after a months-long dispute between Musk and Brazilian judge Alexandre de Moraes over the company’s failure to comply with court orders requiring the platform to take action against the spread of hate speech.
Courts have previously banned accounts involved in investigations into spreading misinformation and hate speech, which Musk has denounced as censorship.
Lawyers representing X in Brazil said Thursday that the company had begun complying with orders to remove content, another demand from the Supreme Court.