“50,000 reais a day”: fining users, not just platforms
Alongside the X blockade, Justice Moraes threatened the users: anyone reaching X via VPN risked daily fines — reported internationally as ~US$8,900 per day. A legal tool became a punishable act.
Summary
As part of the 30.08.2024 X blockade, Moraes threatened fines against users circumventing the block via VPN — reported by the LA Times as US$8,900/day. Whether individual VPN users were ultimately fined is not documented (as of 10/2026); the order and its deterrent effect are. A state that criminalises circumventing a platform block — while the block’s own legality was contested — shifts the pressure from the company to every single citizen.
Sources
- STF (Brazilian Supreme Federal Tribunal), official news: “STF determina suspensão do X, antigo Twitter, em todo o território nacional” — Justice Moraes’ order of 30.08.2024, including the daily fine for circumvention, from the court itself.
- STF press release: “STF inclui dono da rede social X no inquérito das milícias digitais” — the underlying inquiry (Inquérito das Milícias Digitais) into which Musk and X were placed.
- Dossier: Brazil blocks X
- Indication (press, not evidence): LA Times (US$8,900/day figure), Al Jazeera — press reporting; the order itself is the source of record.