SAO PAULO (AP) — A Brazilian Supreme Court justice on Friday seized about $3 million from bank accounts belonging to social media platform X and satellite-based internet service provider Starlink, both companies controlled by tech billionaire Elon Musk.

The move by Justice Alexandre de Moraes was aimed at collecting funds that are equivalent to the amount that X owes to the country in fines. The bank accounts of the two companies have since been unfrozen.

Legal analysts have questioned de Moraes’ prior decision to freeze Starlink’s bank account to pay for cases related to X. While Musk owns both X and SpaceX, which operates Starlink, the two companies are separate entities.

    • unexposedhazard@discuss.tchncs.de
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      6 days ago

      Framed to make it look like a corrupt judge, when its just the totally standard seizing of assets due to a fine that hasnt been paid.

      Happens to normal civilians all the time so why not to companies?

      • Hawk@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        6 days ago

        There’s a bit more nuance to it, as he seized assets of an unrelated(?) company.

        I mean, the relation is obvious, but in legal terms they are unrelated.

        Fuck Elon though, wished they seized more.

        • Skua@kbin.earth
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          6 days ago

          Wasn’t Starlink saying it would refuse to comply with the court order to stop serving ex-Twitter in Brazil? Could this be related to that?