After taking a stance against Brazilian authorities regarding demands to censor X users, Elon Musk and X Corp. have now retreated in the wake of increased fines against the service as well as the actual threat of banning the application in the region.

X earlier this month announced that a Brazilian court order had been issued to the platform "to block certain popular accounts in Brazil". X stated it had received no basis for its action but would have to comply to be in alignment with the local government laws.

Responding to the official announcement, though, owner Elon Musk was challenged by his followers in the app to defy the ruling in the name of free speech. That then led Musk to order all blocks be removed, putting him on a collision course with Brazilian officials that could risk the platform's access to the region.

There Musk has been working diligently ever since to draw attention to what he feels constitutes illegal requests from Brazil's Minister of the Supreme Federal Court Alexandre de Moraes, and acted in such a way to make this into an example of his willingness to battle for free speech, no matter the cost.

And, it seems that cost was a little too high to sustain in this case.

Facing fines of $20,000 a day that have ballooned to $200,000, and with X's local employees potentially subject to legal enforcement, X has recently quietly agreed to comply with the requests.

According to Reuters:

"Lawyers for the social media platform X representing Elon Musk told Brazil's Supreme Court that the company will comply with every ruling issued by the court or Brazil's top electoral court."

Some have suggested this is a temporary agreement, for the purpose of ensuring X's local employees are safe, before X goes back to opposing the ruling again shortly. For now at least, though, X will toe the line, and meet the requirements of local authorities, despite its stated opposition to such.

Which, despite the optics, is in line with X's general approach.

Elon Musk has made many public statements saying that free and open speech would be allowed in the app, although with the qualification that X will always operate in alignment with local laws, as opposed to going beyond what's dictated by the ruling government. Here, Musk says that the Brazilian Government requests really do go beyond local law, and that's why X has chosen to act. And with the U.S. House of Representatives seeming to take its time to evaluate the situation, and X, as mentioned above being looking down the barrel of substantial fines, it appears that a drawn out fight may be too much for X to stomach, at least at this point in time.

And that situation can shift in a heartbeat. Elon himself came out to fight back against the ruling, and he might be ready to do so again.

But it is still not known why he felt that this demand was going a bit too far, while equivalent demands from the governments of India and Germany were perfectly acceptable to him, and X had obliged both.

Either way, for now, the battle between X and the Brazilian authorities is suspended, while X weighs its options.