Elon Musk-controlled satellite internet provider Starlink has told Brazil’s telecom regulator Anatel it will not comply with a court order to block social media platform X in the country until its local accounts are unfrozen.
Anatel confirmed the information to Reuters on Monday after its head Carlos Baigorri told Globo TV it had received a note from Starlink, which has more than 200,000 customers in Brazil, and passed it onto Brazil’s top court.
Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes last week ordered all telecom providers in the country to shut down X, which is also owned by billionaire Musk, for lacking a legal representative in Brazil.
The move also led to the freezing of Starlink’s bank accounts in Brazil. Starlink is a unit of Musk-led rocket company SpaceX. The billionaire responded to the account block by calling Moraes a “dictator.”
How would you do that though? The whole point is the signal is coming from a satellite
Starlink’s bank accounts are frozen. Musk loves money more than providing service. I doubt he’ll provide the service for free.
Need to ship receivers to customers and those could be seized at customs if they’re illegal radio equipment.
Then, new customers would need a VPN to sign up, and old customers might have trouble renewing with local payment methods
Why bother when you can just prevent Starlink from collecting any money?