Elon Musk suddenly appears to be giving up.

After defying court orders in Brazil for three weeks, Musk’s social network, X, has capitulated. In a court filing on Friday night, the company’s lawyers said that X had complied with orders from Brazil’s Supreme Court in the hopes that the court would lift a block on its site.

The decision was a surprise move by Musk, who owns and controls X, after he said he had refused to obey what he called illegal orders to censor voices on his social network.

Now, X’s lawyers said the company had done exactly what Musk vowed not to: take down accounts that a Brazilian justice ordered removed because the judge said they threatened Brazil’s democracy. X also complied with the justice’s other demands, including paying fines and naming a new formal representative in the country, the lawyers said.

Brazil’s Supreme Court confirmed X’s moves in a filing on Saturday, but said the company had not filed the proper paperwork. It gave X five days to send further documentation.

The abrupt about-face from Musk in Brazil appeared to be a defeat for the outspoken businessman and his self-designed image as a warrior for free speech.

Musk and his company had loudly and harshly criticised Brazil’s Supreme Court for months, even publicly releasing some of its sealed orders, but neither had publicly mentioned their reversal by Saturday morning.

New York Times News Service