Elon Musk is at war with Brazil after the country’s Supreme Court banned X in one of app’s biggest markets.
It didn’t end there for Musk as Starlink’s bank accounts were frozen in the country, too.
Musk fought back.
He called on Brazilians to ignore the bans with a VPN.
But he recently let up on this approach. Musk has adhered to demands by taking down the accounts he originally kept up in defiance. He also appointed a legal rep for the country. Musk then reportedly asked to be reinstated.
And while Musk may lose this battle in the end, there is a wider war to be won.
But, if he truly wants to win, he will orange pill the nation by accepting Bitcoin for Starlink’s satellite service and threaten to move his various business empires onto a Bitcoin Standard.
Brazil: Free Speech Battle Reaches Fever Pitch
The tech billionaire’s spat with the Brazilian government has lasted months. Last week, the Supreme Court in the country banned X, requiring internet service providers to block access.
After the Supreme Court there blocked the platform, Musk shared an X post by Michael Schellenberger urging Brazilians to download a VPN and continue to use X, thereby risking an $8,900 fine for accessing the banned platform through a VPN.
Musk’s promotion of the post made it clear that he is serious about fighting back against what he sees as an unconstitutional action by a Latin American government, whose constitution outlaws censorship.
It’s a dramatic escalation in the battle over censorship and free speech that has broken out since 2020: the CEO at the head of a major social networking site is encouraging users to go against the nation’s Supreme Court to save free speech in what would amount to an act of mass civil disobedience.
According to X’s Global Government Affairs, X was shut down “simply because we would not comply with…illegal orders to censor his political opponents.”
The company continued: “When we attempted to defend ourselves in court, Judge de Moraes threatened our Brazilian legal representative with imprisonment. Even after she resigned, he froze all of her bank accounts.”
Brazil Freezes Starlink’s Accounts, Too
Brazil’s Supreme Court didn’t stop with or its legal representation X in the country. It also moved to freeze the bank accounts of Starlink, Musk’s satellite internet provider incorporated under SpaceX.
Justice de Moraes reasoned that X did not have enough money in its account to cover fines and that Starlink and X were connected financially through Musk. The decision to cut off Starlink’s bank accounts resulted in the company being unable to accept payment from his 250,000 customers.
“This order is based on an unfounded determination that Starlink should be responsible for the fines levied—unconstitutionally—against X.”
Musk posted on X that Starlink would provide free internet service in Brazil “until the matter is resolved” since “we cannot receive payment, but don’t want to cut anyone off.”
Musk Should Not Only Accept Bitcoin and Dogecoin For All of His Companies Services, But Also Threaten To Move All Of His Companies To A Bitcoin Standard
Musk should introduce Bitcoin and Dogecoin payments at Starlink so he can begin accepting payments on a donation basis from the company’s 250,000 customers under Brazil’s dictatorship. Perhaps, in that manner he could recoup some of the money he is now losing.
Doing so would demonstrate Musk’s commitment to the cause and show tyrants everywhere that you just can’t shut down a company’s bank account without the risk of introducing a wide swathe of the country to the antithesis of central banks, a decentralized money.
Musk should not stop there. Instead, he should post on X that, if he is continued to be harassed by global governments over basic human rights, he will be forced to move all of his companies–Tesla, SpaceX, X, Starlink, Neuralink, and The Boring Company–to a Bitcoin Standard, refusing to hold fiat currency in an age of widespread government corruption, even in supposed western democracies.
Brazil Is A Battle In A Wider War
Amid a perceived global crackdown on free speech, Musk and the X platform must recognize they face the same challenges worldwide. With the snap of a finger, any totalitarian government can cut off a free speech platform like X. They’ve done it before, and they’ll do it again.
Brazil is ground zero for Musk in his war against censorship, and an opportunity for him to hold the line. He wants to see the de Moraes behind bars. He should forget about the pawn. Musk’s focus should instead be solely on liberating Brazil by infecting the country with the mind virus of freedom, liberty, and decentralized money.
In order to undermine the state, hit it where it hurts: confidence in its baseless fiat currency. Accept Bitcoin and Dogecoin. Red pill the Brazilian people not only in terms of privacy like he has with encouraging VPN use, but also about the scam that is central banking and the alternatives that now exist in a post-Bitcoin world. And to turn the knife into the entrails of corrupt states everywhere, threaten a Bitcoin Treasury across the board.
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