President Lula’s wife said “Fuck you Elon Musk!” during an intervention in a workshop on disinformation. This insult reveals tensions between Brazil and Elon Musk.
Tension continues to rise between the Brazilian executive and Elon Musk. In full intervention during a workshop on disinformation during the G20 Social, a forum which brings together activists, representatives of NGOs and members of civil society, the Brazilian first lady did not mince her words regarding the billionaire. While Rosangela “Janja” da Silva campaigned for better regulation of social networks, she voiced Elon Musk, before standing up and saying: “I’m not afraid of you either. Fuck you Elon Musk!” to the applause of the audience.
A statement that comes two days before the G20 in Rio de Janeiro and while the owner of X has just been appointed by Donald Trump to head the Government Efficiency Commission. Elon Musk reacted quickly in the comments with emojis crying with laughter and “they are going to lose the next election”. A response appreciated by former president Jair Bolsonaro, who rushed to publish this reaction on his X account.
The former president was also very critical of the insult uttered by President Lula’s wife. One of his lawyers, Fabio Wajngarten, called the remarks “incitement to hatred” and declared: “If Brazil suffers sanctions from the United States because of these irresponsible and totally gratuitous statements, what will- is this going to happen?”
A burdened liability between X and Brazil
This discord between power in Brazil and Elon Musk is not new. X was suspended in Brazil for four days in October after a ruling by Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes. He believed that the social network promoted disinformation. As a reminder, Elon Musk, by purchasing Twitter, which became X, promised total freedom of expression on his social network, including false information. The owner of the social network quickly cried out for “censorship”, calling the magistrate a “dictator”, or even comparing him to the villain in Harry Potter, Voldemort. After several days of difficult to explain reactions from Elon Musk, X ended up deleting the accounts suspected of disinformation. They were, for the most part, sympathizers of former President Bolsonaro. X also paid the fines requested by Brazil, allowing him to be available in the country again on October 9, four days after his suspension.