A Brazilian Supreme Court panel has upheld the decision of one of its justices to block billionaire Elon Musk�s social media platform X nationwide, according to the court�s website.

The broader support among justices deals a blow to Musk and his supporters who have sought to characterize Justice Alexandre de Moraes as a renegade and authoritarian censor of political speech.

The panel is comprised of five of the full bench�s 11 justices, including de Moraes, who last Friday ordered the platform blocked for having failed to name a local legal representative, as required by law. X will remain blocked until it complies with his orders and pays outstanding fines that as of last week exceeded $3 million, according to his decision.

De Moraes� also set a daily fine of 50,000 reais ($8,900) for people or companies using virtual private networks, or VPNs, to access X. Some legal experts questioned the grounds for that decision and how it would be enforced, including Brazil�s bar association, which said it would request the Supreme Court review that provision.

But the majority of the panel on Monday upheld both the block and VPN fine � with one justice opposing the latter, unless users are shown to be using X to commit crimes.

Brazil is one of the biggest markets for X, with tens of millions of users. And its block marked a dramatic escalation in a monthslong feud between Musk and de Moraes over free speech, far-right accounts and misinformation.

(AP)