A recent poll reveals that Brazilians are sharply divided over the Supreme Court’s decision to suspend social media platform X in the country.
The survey, conducted by AtlasIntel from September 3-4, shows that opinions on the matter are mixed.
According to the poll, 50.9% of respondents opposed Justice Alexandre de Moraes’ decision to halt the platform’s operations in Brazil, while 48.1% supported the move. A small fraction, 0.9%, were uncertain.
When asked about the public dispute between Moraes and X owner Elon Musk, 49.7% sided with the judge, while 43.9% supported Musk. The remaining 5.4% did not take a position.
The feud between Moraes and Musk escalated after X failed to comply with Brazilian legal requirements, including naming a local representative and adhering to court orders. Moraes had also mandated fines for users accessing X through VPNs and froze Starlink accounts in Brazil, actions that were deemed “abusive” by a majority of respondents.
The poll found that 64.5% disapproved of the fines, and 55.1% criticized the freezing of Starlink accounts, while 44% considered it justified.
On the issue of content removal and user bans related to investigations into “digital militias” spreading misinformation and hate, 48.9% of respondents believed X should have complied with the court’s orders. In contrast, 37.6% felt the platform should not have followed Moraes’ rulings, and 9.9% thought some specific content should have been removed without banning users.
With around 21.5 million users in Brazil as of April, X represents the sixth-largest market for the platform globally. The suspension of X began early Saturday for most Brazilian users.
The poll surveyed 1,617 Brazilians with a margin of error of 2 percentage points. This survey was not commissioned or sponsored by any public party.
