The X platform, owned by Elon Musk, has been reopened three weeks after being banned by the Brazilian Supreme Court. It was stated that X Corp will be fined $1 million for each day it violates the ban, and the platform’s return to the internet has brought with it many discussions. However, Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince stated that this development was purely a coincidence.
Cloudflare CEO: “This is just an IT provider change”
After Brazil banned the X platform, Elon Musk’s attempts to bypass the bans were on the agenda for a long time. Musk tried to bring the platform to Brazilian users via Starlink satellites, but quickly withdrew this plan. However, last week, the X platform suddenly became accessible in Brazil again. This development was interpreted by many as Musk developing a new method to bypass the ban.
Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince called the move a complete coincidence. “This change was not intentional to bypass the blocking in Brazil. X simply switched from one IT provider to another, and in the process the blocking system in Brazil was broken,” he told TechCrunch. Prince said that Cloudflare’s decision to launch services for X in Brazil was entirely a result of agreement, and that they were not involved in any way in the Brazilian situation.
X had previously worked with an IT provider called Fastly, but in recent weeks, they switched to Cloudflare. During this transition, X’s IP addresses also changed, and the platform was reopened because Brazil’s blocking system did not cover these new addresses. Prince described this as a “crazy coincidence,” emphasizing that there were no plans to resolve the blocking issue with X in Brazil.
Prince also criticized Brazil’s method of blocking X, saying, “Brazil chose a very fragile and inefficient method of implementing this block. They assumed that the IP address would remain fixed. But even if X changed their IP address, they could still bypass this block. This is something that could have been done independently of the move to Cloudflare.”
Following this move, authorities in Brazil began working with Cloudflare to block the platform again. According to the New York Times, Cloudflare has been very cooperative in response to the Brazilian government’s requests and has taken the necessary steps to block X again.
Elon Musk has previously tried many methods to bypass the X ban in Brazil. His failed attempt to make the platform available to users in Brazil using Starlink satellites was an indication that Musk is looking for alternative methods. However, Cloudflare CEO Prince stated that changing X’s IP addresses is not intended to solve this problem. He argues that this development is simply due to an IT provider change and is not an attempt to bypass any ban.
As a result, the reinstatement of X in Brazil has created controversy in both the tech world and the legal community. While Cloudflare worked with the Brazilian government to have X reblocked, the extent to which the reasons behind this process were coincidental is still up for debate.
