Trump Media sues Brazil justice who crossed Elon Musk

Trump Media and its fellow conservative-oriented social media company Rumble on Wednesday sued a Brazil Supreme Court justice who clashed with Elon Musk last year while blocking Musk’s own social media firm, X, in Brazil.

The Tampa, Florida, federal court lawsuit accuses Justice Alexandre de Moraes of allegedly illegal attempts to censor a “well-known politically outspoken user” of Rumble with orders to suspend that user’s U.S.-based accounts.

The suit notes that Trump Media’s social media site Truth Social “relies on Rumble’s cloud-based hosting and video streaming infrastructure to deliver multimedia content to its user base.”

“If Rumble were to be shut down, that shut down would necessarily interfere with Truth Social’s operations, as well,” the suit says.

The suit mentions Musk’s feud with Moraes last year, when the justice suspended X in Brazil for Musk’s defiance of requests to ban some user accounts and remove content that Moraes said violated the country’s laws. Brazil’s Supreme Court also suspended bank accounts in that country of Starlink, the satellite internet service provider owned by Musk’s company SpaceX, as part of that battle.

Musk, who is also the CEO of Tesla, has been tasked by President Donald Trump to oversee a wide-ranging effort to cut federal government suspending and employee headcount.

Trump had been the majority owner of Trump Media stock shares. In December, the then-president-elect transferred his entire stake of shares to a revocable trust of which he is the sole beneficiary.

Trump Media CEO Devin Nunes in a statement Wednesday on the suit said that the company “is firmly committed to upholding the right to free expression.”

“This is not just a slogan, it’s the core mission of this company,” Nunes said. “We’re proud to join our partner Rumble in standing against unjust demands for political censorship regardless of who makes them.”

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