Elon Musk’s X Uses Software Upgrade To Get Around Ban In Brazil

On Wednesday, a group representing Brazilian Internet providers revealed that Elon Musk’s X managed to circumvent a ban imposed on the social media network in Brazil by deploying an automatic software update. 

This information was detailed in a report by Bloomberg, shedding light on the strategies employed by the company to operate within the regulatory framework while maintaining its presence in the market. 

The association’s findings raise important questions about the intersection of technology, regulation, and corporate responsibility in the digital age.

X had changed its structure to make use of IP addresses associated with Cloudflare

After a Brazilian Supreme Court judge ordered its blocking last month due to an altercation with Musk, many people in the most populous country in Latin America had unexpected access to the site restored overnight. 

Brazilians speculated about whether the ruling had been overturned as they woke up and discovered that X was suddenly working again on their phones.

ABRINT, the Brazilian Association of Internet and Telecommunications Providers, clarified that X has modified its structure in its update to utilize IP addresses connected to San Francisco-based Cloudflare, a cyber protection firm. 

This provider of internet infrastructure helps millions of websites route their traffic.

According to the ABRINT group, X’s structural modifications make banning the app more difficult. The previous system allowed internet firms to identify data sources using individual IP addresses. 

Nevertheless, since many of these IP addresses are used by other authorized services, blocking one will always have an impact on other services.

“We expect the platform to be inaccessible again in Brazil soon”

Twitter, now known as X, has temporarily restored access for Brazilians after changing network providers following its ban in the country.

An X spokesperson said “While we expect the platform to be inaccessible again in Brazil soon, we continue efforts to work with the Brazilian government to return very soon for the people of Brazil,”

Cloudflare did not want to respond. A request for clarification from the Supreme Court was not immediately answered, but local media reported that the court had questioned Brazil’s telecoms regulator, Anatel, over the unapproved return of X.

Anatel maintains continuous monitoring of the blocking order, with the results being reported directly to the Supreme Court.

An outspoken opponent of hate speech and fake news, Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, banned X in August after Musk declined to designate a legal agent in Brazil and to limit access to specific accounts. 

The richest man in the world has attempted to portray the judge’s work as a dangerous instance of government overreach and an attack on free speech, while Moraes’s supporters contend that the effort is necessary to purge the Internet of impurities. 

The Supreme Court’s decision to prohibit X, formerly known as Twitter, remained unchanged, according to a statement made earlier on Wednesday by Anatel, Brazil’s telecoms regulator.

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