Elon Musk has lashed out at a judge in Brazil who threatened to suspend the social media platform X,

Elon Musk has escalated his online attacks on Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, calling him "an evil dictator" in an ongoing conflict between the two. The feud intensified after de Moraes threatened to suspend the social media platform X in Brazil if Musk did not appoint a new legal representative for the company in the country and address any outstanding daily fines within 24 hours.

Musk, who had previously referred to de Moraes as "Darth Vader," wrote on X, "Alexandre de Moraes is an evil dictator cosplaying as a judge." He also retweeted a statement from X’s Global Government Affairs team, which promised to publish the judge’s "illegal demands and all related court filings" soon.

Brazil, a significant market for social media platforms, has around 40 million users—about 18% of the population—accessing X at least once per month, according to the Associated Press.

This clash marks the latest development in Musk’s ongoing feud with de Moraes, which revolves around issues of free speech and alleged disinformation. Earlier this month, X announced it would close its operations and lay off staff in Brazil due to what it termed "censorship orders" from de Moraes. The judge had ordered the platform to block several X accounts he claimed were spreading disinformation.

The Supreme Court, through its official X account, shared the latest statement from de Moraes, tagging both Musk and X’s Global Government Affairs account. The statement was posted around 8:30 p.m. local time on Wednesday, giving Musk until Thursday evening local time to respond.

On August 17, X released a detailed statement announcing the closure of its operations in Brazil, citing de Moraes’ "censorship orders" as the reason. The statement emphasized that despite their appeals to the Supreme Court and the lack of responsibility or control by their Brazilian staff over content blocking, de Moraes had chosen to threaten their staff rather than respect the law or due process. Consequently, X decided to shut down its operations in Brazil to protect its employees, although the X service remains available to the Brazilian public.

Later that day, Musk reiterated X's position, stating that due to demands from Justice de Moraes that would require them to violate Brazilian, Argentinian, American, and international law, X had "no choice" but to close its local operations in Brazil.