The Blubber

On Friday, the Brazilian Supreme Court lifted the freeze on the assets of Starlink and X. This decision came after approximately $3.3 million in funds from both companies were transferred to the government to cover fines allegedly incurred by X, which is led by Elon Musk.

According to an Associated Press report, the Supreme Court noted that Judge de Moraes had ordered the transfer of over 7.28 million Brazilian reais ($1.3 million) from an X bank account and nearly 11.07 million Brazilian reais ($1.99 million) from a Starlink account.

Judge de Moraes made this decision regarding the assets of Starlink and X on Wednesday, but his ruling on the underlying case has not yet been made public. Legal analysts have raised concerns about the judge’s decision to freeze Starlink’s assets as a means to address fines imposed on X. Since Starlink and X are separate entities with distinct investors, freezing Starlink’s assets impacted investors who were not involved in the issues with X or Elon Musk.

The Brazilian Supreme Court indicated that the banks holding Starlink and X’s accounts were notified of Judge de Moraes’ decision. “After the payment of the full amount owed, Justice de Moraes determined that there was no further need to keep the bank accounts frozen and ordered their immediate unfreezing,” the court said.

As of now, X has not commented on the situation.

The conflict between Elon Musk and Judge de Moraes began in April when the Supreme Court Judge ordered the immediate, secret suspension of several X accounts, including that of a Brazilian parliament member, over allegations of disinformation. X’s refusal to comply led to an escalation, culminating in the Brazilian Supreme Court blocking the platform’s use in the country.