The judge Elon Musk bizarrely called 'Brazil's Darth Vader' gives Twitter 24 hours to comply with court order or get shut down by the full power of his legal battle station

In the latest in a long string of calamities, cringe moments, and baffling upsets that have marked Elon Musk's stewardship of the platform formerly known as Twitter, a Brazilian judge has given the site 24 hours to appoint a legal representative in the country or have its local operations shut down completely (via AP).

The judge is Supreme Court justice Alexandre de Moraes, and Musk has clashed with him before—even mocking him as «Brazil's Darth Vader» in a tweet earlier this year. Back in April, Moraes ordered an investigation into Musk over the spread of fake news and a separate probe focused on obstruction, incitement, and criminal organisation. 

In particular, the court took issue with Musk's reinstatement of various far-right Twitter accounts. Moraes has gone after «digital militias» of far-right activists that have been accused of inciting violence against Supreme Court justices and spreading misinformation within Brazil, and that attempted to overturn the election of Brazilian Lula Ignacio da Silva in 2022. Silva, known familiarly as Lula, defeated Brazil's former far-right president Jair Bolsonaro, and supporters of the former president attacked the Brazilian Congress in 2023.

So the court is none too pleased with Musk's self-described «free speech absolutism» that seems to overwhelmingly favour far-right figureheads. Since Musk became owner of the social media platform, Twitter has seen increases in hate speech and reinstated figures like conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, white supremacist Nick Fuentes, and former president Donald Trump while other accounts—including journalists critical of Musk—have found themselves inexplicably suspended. Musk also reportedly fired Twitter's Brazilian election misinformation team, adding fuel to the fire of his fracas with Moraes.

Meanwhile, Twitter has rankled at orders from the court to ban prominent Bolsonaristas and others on the extreme right. Things seemed to come to a head earlier this month, when Twitter went to the