Why has X been banned in Brazil? Explaining Paulo Costa's tweets (and an uncanny beef with actor Mark Ruffalo)
Brazil's Paulo Costa is a one-time UFC middleweight title challenger and a fan-favorite MMA fighter. Ranked No. 9 in his division, Costa is 1-4 in his past five octagon appearances. He's coming off a split decision defeat against former middleweight kingpin Sean Strickland in June 2024 and eyeing another tough fight next.
'Borrachinha' has lately found himself in a rather surprising rivalry that's not against a fellow fighter. Costa, who's been quite vocal about the recent ban of social media platform X in his nation, has been feuding with veteran Hollywood star Mark Ruffalo.
Why has X been banned in Brazil? Explaining Paulo Costa's tweets
Earlier this year, Judge Alexandre de Moraes instructed U.S.-based micro-blogging platform X to regulate hate speech and other incendiary content on it. X is owned by South Africa-born U.S.-based tech billionaire Elon Musk.
The 53-year-old had until Thursday, Aug. 29, 2024, to comply with Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes' order to appoint a legal representative for X in Brazil. Since the Musk-helmed X didn't comply, the judge banned X in Brazil. The ban would stay till Musk pays the specified fine (over $3 million) and appoints a local legal representative.
Many X users from Brazil have taken to other platforms to claim they can't access their X accounts. Brazil's internet service providers are expected to completely block access to the platform soon, which would disallow Brazilian users from using the site via web browser, app, or any other means.
Meanwhile, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Brazil's current president and a prominent left-leaning politician, suggested that Musk was attempting to use his wealth to disrespect Brazilian laws. Musk took to X on Aug. 29 and deemed Moraes as Brazil's "dictator" and Lula as Moraes' "lapdog."
The consensus is that Musk's supposedly being a right-leaning socio-political personality has largely precipitated his feud with Brazil's Lula and other left-leaning politicians like U.S. President Joe Biden.
American actor Mark Ruffalo, deemed a notable left-wing activist by many, subsequently lambasted Musk. Ruffalo indicated that the billionaire didn't respect the laws and sovereignty of other countries and should be taxed heavily.
Paulo Costa, who's previously expressed his support for right-wing Brazilian politicians such as former president Jair Bolsonaro, hit back at Ruffalo. He implied that the American hasn't lived in a third-world country and has no say about what should happen in such countries. As seen in the tweet below, 'Eraser' labeled Ruffalo a "f*g" and told him to "go f**k" himself.
Moreover, Paulo Costa put forth an NSFW tweet, writing, presumably in jest:
"It's time to celebrate the back of freedom in Brazil"
Additionally, per Reuters, Brazil's court order has warned that the nation's X users who try to access the platform via a VPN (Virtual Private Network) would be fined 50k reals (around $9k) per day.
In another tweet, Costa pointed out that he wouldn't pay $8,000 every day to use X and would leave the platform.
Furthermore, Paulo Costa tweeted a screenshot, seemingly from the famous GTA V video game, in which the character 'Michael De Santa' was escaping from the police. Costa joked that he felt akin to a fugitive for using X after the ban in Brazil.
As seen below, he made another tweet, referencing his long-running 'Secret Juice' joke and signaled that the only solution is for him to lead Brazil.
Check out the screenshots of some of Paulo Costa's tweets below:
