It was inevitable that the tech tycoons who espouse “absolute freedom of speech” on the key platforms of public discourse they own would, sooner o

The Conundrum of Governing Cyberspace

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2024-10-07 21:30:04

It was inevitable that the tech tycoons who espouse “absolute freedom of speech” on the key platforms of public discourse they own would, sooner or later, run afoul of the laws and norms of democratically legitimated states. That day has arrived with both Elon Musk’s recent confrontation with Brazil’s judiciary over X and Telegram’s Pavel Durov’s arrest in France.

Brazilian courts have shut down X for failing to cooperate with authorities by naming an official representative in the country to be held accountable for its content and operations. The investigating magistrate who issued the order, Alexandre de Moraes, regards himself as a staunch defender of Brazilian sovereignty, accusing X of spreading disinformation that undermines his country’s democracy. Moraes’s decision is backed up by a larger panel of the Supreme Court.

The issue is further complicated since Musk’s Starlink satellite system, which provides internet service in the more remote precincts of Brazil, orbits outside that country’s territorial claims, raising frontier issues about a “space grab” by private interests that escape the bounds of sovereignty. At first, Starlink refused to shut down its accounts but in the end, conceded to the Brazilian authorities so as not to lose its license to operate in the country altogether.