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- X mistakenly transferred $5 million in fines to the wrong bank, said Brazil’s Supreme Court.
- The court demanded a correct payment before X’s ban can be lifted nationwide.
- The platform was banned and fined for defying Brazil’s content moderation rules.
Elon Musk’s X just botched a $5 million payment in Brazil by transferring it to the wrong bank, according to Brazil’s Supreme Court, Reuters reported on Saturday.
This payment issue is the latest in a string of complications in Brazil for the company formerly known as Twitter.
In late August, Brazil’s Supreme Court banned the platform for failing to comply with orders related to content moderation and for not appointing a legal representative in the country.
The social media platform was also slapped with a $5.2 million fine.
On Friday, X’s legal team submitted documents showing that they paid the fines. But the court said that the money had been sent to the wrong bank, Reuters reported. The court said that the money must be redirected to the correct account before it can consider lifting X’s ban in Brazil.
The company’s lawyers maintain that the company has correctly paid the fines, Reuters reported, which is the last hurdle the company has to overcome before being allowed to resume operations in Brazil.
Brazil was one of X’s key markets, with around 21.5 million users, making it the sixth-largest user base for the platform, Reuters reported last month.
The platform’s legal troubles in the country have stirred tensions over issues of free speech between Musk and Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who was overseeing the case.
Musk, who positioned himself as a defender of free speech, clashed with the court over what he saw as an overreach, refused to comply with content removal orders, and launched personal attacks on de Moraes.
De Moraes responded by banning the platform in Brazil, issuing additional fines, and threatening to arrest X’s legal representatives.
X and the Brazil Supreme Court did not respond to requests for comment sent by Business Insider outside business hours.
X’s apparent payment blunder isn’t the first of its kind — or anywhere near the largest. In 2020, Citigroup accidentally sent $900 million to Revlon’s creditors. The bank spent the next two years in litigation trying to recover the funds, with 10 lenders refusing to return the amount, saying that they believed they were owed the money.
