Members of Brazil’s Supreme Court have voted unanimously to uphold the ban on X after Elon Musk’s refusal to comply with local laws led to the social network being blocked in one of its largest markets.

On Monday, five of the court’s judges were asked to review Friday’s decision to temporarily ban X from Brazil, where the platform has more than 21 million users. By midday, all five had voted in favor of the ban.

Flávio Dino voted to continue suspending X, saying the company’s decision to “deliberately” ignore a court order to appoint a legal representative in Brazil indicated that it considered itself “above the rule of law.”

Such behavior risks turning X into an “outlaw,” Dino added, suggesting that he may reconsider his decision in the future if the company corrects its “illegal behavior.”

“Economic power and the size of a bank account do not lead to a strange immunity from jurisdiction,” Dino argued, warning of the risks that “private autocrats” could determine the laws of social networks.

Judge Cristiano Zanin also supported the ban, arguing that X had “systematically” disregarded Supreme Court orders by first blocking accounts allegedly spreading misinformation and then appointing a local representative.

“The repeated non-compliance with Supreme Court decisions is extremely serious for every citizen and legal entity, public or private. No one can carry out their activity in Brazil without complying with the laws and the Federal Constitution,” Zanin argued.

A third judge, Cármen Lúcia Antunes Rocha, said she supported the suspension because of X’s “aggressive and belligerent violation of Brazilian legislation.”

The question is whether a foreign company can be allowed to behave in Brazil “as it wants, without rules or legal restrictions,” Rocha added.

Earlier, Judge Alexandre de Moraes, who ordered the ban last week, reiterated his belief that the “immediate, complete and total” suspension of X throughout Brazil was necessary.

Dino, Zanin and Rocha all agreed with perhaps the most controversial part of Moraes’ earlier ruling: the ban on using “technological tricks” such as virtual private networks (VPNs) to circumvent the blocking of X. Using such technology to access X is now punishable in Brazil by a fine of 50,000 reals (£6,760) per day.

Since last week’s ruling, Musk has stepped up his attacks on Brazil’s Supreme Court and the left-wing government, calling the verdict part of a crusade by the authoritarian “woke” regime to silence conservative voices and restrict free expression.

On Sunday, Musk’s satellite internet subsidiary Starlink informed Brazil’s telecommunications regulator Anatel that it would not comply with a court order to block X in the South American country.

At the same time, Musk used his X-account to denigrate Moraes as a “false judge,” “dictator of Brazil,” and “Brazil’s Voldemort.”

“He can block this platform in Brazil, but he can’t stop the whole world from knowing about his illegal, shameful and hypocritical actions,” Musk tweeted on Saturday as the ban came into force, locking millions of Brazilians out of X, formerly Twitter.

Musk, who has joined the far-right movement of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and his US ally Donald Trump, is also directing pressure at the government of left-wing President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

“The current Brazilian government likes to wear the mantle of a free democracy while crushing the people under its boot,” tweeted Musk, who visited Bolsonaro in Brazil during the final year of his 2019-2023 presidency and received a military award for his outstanding service to the country.

The medal was awarded to the tech billionaire by Bolsonaro’s then-Defense Minister Paulo Sérgio Nogueira. He is being investigated by the federal police for allegedly plotting to prevent Lula from coming to power after his victory in the 2022 Brazilian elections.

This alleged plot culminated in the far-right riots in Brasília on January 8, 2023. Moraes accuses X and other social networks of contributing to their emergence by spreading hate speech and anti-democratic sentiments.

Bolsonaro and several close allies will be formally charged by federal police in the coming weeks over the alleged coup attempt, the newspaper O Globo reported on Sunday.

The former president denies wrongdoing and on Monday criticized the ban on X, where he has 13 million followers. Bolsonaro attributed the ban to the “inexplicable desire of some members of the government and the judiciary to control public debate and silence dissenting voices.”

Senior members of Lula’s government have rejected attempts by Musk and Bolsonaro to portray the standoff as an attack on free speech.

“It’s simply about following the rules… no one is above the law,” Vice President Geraldo Alckmin told the newspaper Folha de São Paulo. Alckmin compared the case to the recent arrest of Telegram CEO Pavel Durov in France, “a country with a great democratic tradition.”

Experts predict the showdown between Musk and Brazil’s Supreme Court will escalate before it calms down. If Starlink follows through on its promise to ignore the X-ban, it will likely face similar sanctions itself for ignoring a Supreme Court order.

This could have a major impact on the Brazilian Amazon, where Starlink antennas have spread rapidly since their launch in September 2022, bringing high-speed internet connections to remote regions. According to BBC Brasil, Starlink antennas were deployed in more than 90% of Amazon communities by the end of 2023.