"Judge Alexandre de Moraes of the Supreme Federal Court ordered the immediate and complete suspension of X in the country... The decision sets a daily fine of 50,000 reais [over $8,900] for individuals and legal entities that use technological tricks to continue using X," the statement said.
According to Statista, the average Brazilian annual salary was 35,748 reais in 2023, or about $6,370 at today's exchange rates.
A Virtual Private Network (VPN) is a service that allows users to reroute their internet traffic through a portal, making it appear to websites and services that the user is in that server's location.
Earlier Moraes gave Musk 24 hours to appoint a new legal representative of X in Brazil, saying it would be suspended otherwise.
The deadline expired on Thursday evening. X said on Friday it refuses to comply with "illegal orders" from a court in Brazil and expects to be shut down in the country.
In mid-August, X published a letter from Moraes with demands for censorship and user account information that it said could affect users not only in Brazil, but also in the United States and Argentina. Shortly before that, X posted a letter from the judge requesting the censorship of several accounts held in Brazil, including a sitting parliamentarian.