Brazil blocked Twitter/X

Brazil

August 31, 2024 UTC - October 11, 2024 UTC

twitter

censorship

social media

published by Elizaveta Yachmeneva on September 3, 2024 UTC

Network(s): AS14868, AS18881, AS262354, AS262595, AS262777, AS262907, AS263332, AS263349, AS264294, AS265428, AS26599, AS26615, AS268490, AS268701, AS269217, AS270944, AS27699, AS28126, AS28210, AS28573, AS28669, AS52765, AS52795, AS53006, AS7738, AS8167

On 31st August 2024, Brazil has blocked access to X (formerly known as Twitter) following the Supreme Court Judge’s Alexandre de Moraes order. The service stayed inaccessible till 11th October 2024.

The following chart aggregates OONI measurement coverage from the testing of Twitter/X on multiple networks in Brazil between 3rd August 2024 to 11th October 2024.

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Chart: OONI Probe testing of twitter.com in Brazil between 3rd August 2024 to 11th October 2024 (source: OONI data).

From the above chart, we can see that Twitter/X was previously mostly accessible in Brazil, only starting to present persistent signs of blocking (through a spike in a large volume of anomalies) since 31st August 2024.

Most anomalous measurements pertaining to the testing of twitter.com presented signs of IP blocking (resulting in a connection timeout) or DNS interference (returning an NXDOMAIN error or the localhost IP 127.0.0.1 as part of DNS resolution), depending on the network. OONI data suggests that the block was implemented on more than 25 tested networks, including the biggest Brazilian providers, such as Ligga Telecom (AS14868), Ligue Movel (AS262354), Taionet Telecomunicacoes (AS265428), TepCar (AS262907), TIM (AS26615), Vivo (AS18881), Vtal (AS8167) and others.

Twitter/X became accessible in the country on 11th October 2024 after Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered to lift the blocking.

If you are in Brazil, you can test Twitter/X and contribute more measurements by running OONI Probe.