Mr. Musk has criticized the blackout of the social network in Brazil as a campaign by a single, crusading justice. On Monday, four other justices affirmed the ruling.
A panel of Brazilian Supreme Court justices voted on Monday to uphold a decision by one justice last week to block the social network X across the country because its owner, Elon Musk, refused to comply with court orders to suspend certain accounts.
The five-justice panel voted unanimously to back the order, issuing strongly worded opinions saying that the blackout of X complied with Brazilian law and that it was necessary to enforce the nation’s rules against a foreign company that was flouting them.
X “seems to believe it’s above the law,” wrote one justice, Flavio Dino. “Economic power and the size of a bank account do not give rise to outlandish immunity.”
The ban on X is the culmination of a monthslong feud between Mr. Musk and a Brazilian Supreme Court justice, Alexandre de Moraes, over what can be said online. Justice Moraes has said Mr. Musk is illegally obstructing his work to clean up the Brazilian internet and remove hate speech and attacks on democracy, while Mr. Musk says Justice Moraes is censoring free speech.
Monday’s vote was an important affirmation of the ban because Mr. Musk has criticized the action against his company as an abuse of power by a single, crusading judge. The panel’s ruling on Monday shows that four other Brazilian justices side with their colleague.
The vote gives the ban firmer legal standing, but it is likely to still head to the full court for a vote by all 11 justices. The court sometimes uses such panel votes to get a swifter review of important orders issued by single justices. Justice Moraes was one of the five justices on the panel that voted Monday.