What to know about Elon Musk's 'free speech' feud with a Brazilian judge

Elon Musk is clashing with a bald, athletically built Supreme Court justice in Brazil over free speech, far-right accounts and misinformation on X. The headline-grabbbing billionaire bought the social media platform when it was Twitter. He has upended many of Twitter’s policies, gutted its staff and transformed what people see on the site. As not only its owner but perhaps its most influential user, he’s used it to try to sway political discourse around the world. His latest entanglement is inside a nation of 203 million people, the largest population and economy in South America. The South Africa-born CEO of Tesla and SpaceX bought Twitter in 2022 and declares himself a ‘free speech absolutist.’ To his critics, it’s absolutism with a political slant.