President Lula's wife launched "Fuck you Elon Musk !" during an intervention in a workshop on disinformation. This insult is indicative of tensions between Brazil and Elon Musk. Tensions continue to rise between the Brazilian executive and Elon Musk. In the middle of speaking at a workshop on disinformation during the G20 Social, a forum that 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 was campaigning for better regulation of social networks, she made Elon Musk heard, before standing up and saying: “I'm not afraid of you either. Fuck you Elon Musk!”, to applause from 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 Commission on Government Efficiency. Elon Musk reacted quickly in the comments with emojis crying with laughter and “they're going to lose the next election”. A response appreciated by former president Jair Bolsonaro, who was quick to to publish this reaction on his X account. 
– Já temos mais um problema diplomático. pic.twitter.com/TXLZifhEXX
— Jair M. Bolsonaro (@jairbolsonaro) November 16, 2024
The former president was also very critical of the insult made by President Lula's wife. One of his lawyers, Fabio Wajngarten, described the remarks as “incitement to hatred” and said: “If Brazil suffers sanctions from the United States, it will be a blow to the country.” because of these irresponsible and totally gratuitous statements, what will happen ?"
A heavy liability between X and Brazil
This discord between the power in Brazil and Elon Musk is not new. X was suspended in Brazil for four days in October after a decision by Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes. He considered that the social network promoted disinformation. As a reminder, Elon Musk, by buying Twitter, which became X, promised total freedom of expression on his social network, including false information. The owner of the social network quickly cried “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 demanded by Brazil, which allowed him to be available again in the country on October 9, four days after his suspension.