How X's nationwide blackout has impacted Brazilians
Millions of Brazilians woke up on Saturday, to find social media platform X was no longer operational. Although the app displayed a timeline, all posts were stuck at Friday night's updates. Attempts to access the website resulted in a blank screen, creating an illusion that it had vanished. Users in Brazil are now turning to platforms like Bluesky and Threads to satisfy their X craving.
X's blackout leaves millions of Brazilians disconnected
On Friday, the Brazilian Supreme Court, led by Justice Alexandre de Moraes, ordered a nationwide blackout of X. This left millions of Brazilians disconnected. This decision came after a prolonged dispute between Moraes and Elon Musk, the owner of X. The contention centered around regulation of online content in Brazil, and escalated when Musk declared that X would not adhere to court orders to suspend specific accounts.
Brazilians turn to alternative platforms
As access to X was cut off, Brazilians began migrating their online activities to other platforms. Bluesky, a social network similar to X, experienced a significant surge in usage following the announcement of the ban in Brazil. Within hours of this news, hundreds of thousands of new users joined Bluesky according to data shared by its employees. Other users turned to Threads, another competitor of X owned by Meta.
Brazil's X blackout sparks debate and defiance
The blackout of X in Brazil has sparked a debate among users and politicians about the validity of the ban. Some Brazilians have resorted to using virtual private networks (VPNs) to bypass the block, despite Moraes's warning that such actions could result in a daily fine of 50,000 Brazilian Reals or nearly $9,000. Marcel van Hattem, a right-wing Brazilian congressman, openly defied this order by tweeting via VPN and encouraging others to do so as well.
Brazil was X's fifth-largest international market
As per data firm Statista, Brazil was X's fifth-largest global market behind India, Japan, Indonesia and the United Kingdom. Over 20 million people in the country used it to weigh in on sports, politics, and entertainment.
