'Little Buffett' Bill Ackman Warns "Brazil Blocking X Will Become an Uninvestable Market"

"Capital Flight and Stock Price Collapse to Follow in China"

Bill Ackman, the hedge fund billionaire chairman of Pershing Square Capital, known as the 'Little Buffett,' warned that the decision by a Brazilian court to block the social networking service X (formerly Twitter) would drive investors away from Brazil and harm the economy.

According to Ackman's X account on the 1st (local time), he stated in a post made the previous day, "Brazil's illegal shutdown of X and the freezing of Starlink accounts have exposed a fast track to making Brazil an uninvestable market."

Ackman said, "China engaged in similar actions that led to capital flight and stock market collapse abroad," adding, "If Brazil does not quickly retreat from these illegal actions, the same thing will happen (as in China)."

Earlier, Brazil's Federal Supreme Court ruled on the 31st of last month to block the X service. The court demanded the removal of content and accounts related to the spread and reproduction of hate speech, racist messages, and allegations of election fraud on X. However, Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and owner of X, refused to comply, prompting the court's action. Brazilian President Luiz In?cio Lula also supported the Supreme Court's decision, indirectly criticizing Musk by saying, "Having a lot of money does not mean you can ignore this."

Despite growing criticism that this infringes on freedom of expression, the global conflict among governments, judicial authorities, and social media platform companies is spreading comprehensively. On the 28th of last month, French prosecutors indicted Pavel Durov, founder and CEO of Telegram, on charges of aiding and abetting various crimes, including child sexual exploitation material and drug trafficking.