'Operational Faults Allowed Blocked Users To Stay Active', Elon Musk-Owned X Informs Brazil's Supreme Court

Police records showed accounts on X that the apex court had ordered blocked were still active on the platform by early April, and were able to gain new followers along with doing live-streaming.

Brazilian Supreme Court had ordered X to block certain accounts back in 2022 and now the lawyers representing X in Brazil's Supreme Court argued that the "operational faults" have allowed users who were ordered blocked to stay active on the social media platform. This was in response to Supreme Court Judge Alexandre de Moraes asking X why it allegedly did not fully comply with the rulings that ordered the micro-blogging platform to block certain accounts. 

In a 20-page legal document, X lawyers stated that the owners of the accounts had sought to circumvent court-ordered restrictions to continue using the platform and in order to do so they created new accounts. They clarified that the platform did not reactivate any of the users' accounts.

According to Reuters, police records showed accounts on X that the apex court had ordered blocked were still active on the platform by early April, and were able to gain new followers along with doing live-streaming.

X lawyers argued that the police tracked six accounts, from a total of over 200 accounts that were ordered to be blocked since 2022. They added that these users were owned by people who have a history "of incessantly trying to break imposed security measures", saying they took advantage of "operational faults" and "systemic vulnerabilities" within the platform to keep using it. One of the strategies used by such accounts was to put links to external sites, where they stream videos, on their profile bio.

How Were The Profiles 'Active'

An operational glitch allowed users to view profile bios on X when logging in via the app, while these accounts appeared blocked when accessed through the website, as stated by X. The company labelled these incidents as "unusual" and promptly rectified the issues upon detection.

Earlier this month, Moraes, who had previously deemed decisions regarding X Musk as "unconstitutional," initiated an inquiry into the billionaire. This came after Musk announced intentions to reactivate accounts on X that the judge had ordered to be blocked.

The judge's investigation extends to "digital militias" accused of disseminating fake news, hate speech, and engaging in illicit activities on social platforms during the tenure of former President Jair Bolsonaro. Additionally, Moraes is leading an inquiry into an alleged coup attempt involving Bolsonaro.