Musk, Brazil and the limits of human stupidity

The latest twist in a saga of brinkmanship involving two giant egos has seen a Brazilian judge order the blocking of access to X: in short, one of those issues that makes you wonder about the limits of human stupidity.

Sadly, it was only a matter of time before a man-boy who sees himself as possessed of godlike influence would meet the immovable object of a judge equally assured of his limitless powers.

There must be a reasonable balance between the de facto censorship of what a judge deems harmful and the total freedom to publish potentially harmful material. That balance, at the moment, does not exist, in Brazil or anywhere else. In the absence of clear rules other than those dictated by common sense, in this case the least common of the senses, we tend to opt for a certain caution, only censoring clearly harmful, criminal or dangerous content. Occasionally, a judge comes along and decides to exceed their powers, ordering for example the unjustifiable arrest of the CEO of a company, accusing him of all sorts of nefarious crimes because he has simply not responded to a request, or as in this case, prohibiting an entire country from accessing a communications network because it has decided to embark on a bitter crusade against its owner.