You may soon need a VPN to use X in Brazil

If you're living or heading to Brazil anytime soon, you may need to get one of the best VPN apps to keep accessing a popular social media service.

As per several media reports, the Brazilian Supreme Court threatened to ban the platform on Wednesday, August 28, if the social media giant fails to appoint a legal representative in the country within 24 hours.

X (formerly known as Twitter) announced the potential block directly from the platform, confirming that intends not to comply with the Court request. "We expect Judge Alexandre de Moraes will order X to be shut down in Brazil – simply because we would not comply with his illegal orders to censor his political opponents," the Global Government Affairs team wrote in a tweet (see below).

Earlier this month, X decided to shut down its offices in Brazil over a months-long censorship dispute. The company did so as local representatives had allegedly been threatened with arrest for failing to comply with content removal orders.

As for Brazilian law, foreign companies must have legal representatives based in the country to keep operating in Brazil.

X's owner, Elon Musk, has been especially critical of the Minister of the Supreme Federal Court, Alexandre de Moraes, repeatedly calling him a "tyrant" and "dictator" on his social media account. 

The feud has now spread to other Musk assets, too, as the judge reportedly
froze the finances of SpaceX's Starlink on Thursday.

How a VPN can help

While the Brazilian X ban is yet to be confirmed, the chances that you'll soon need to find an alternative way to access the platform are very high.

Put simply, if de Moraes finally signs off the blocking order, you have to trick Brazilian internet service providers (ISPs) into thinking you're browsing from a completely different country to keep using X during your stay in Brazil.

A VPN, short for virtual private network, is security software that encrypts internet connections and spoofs a user's real IP address. The latter feature is exactly what you need to bypass government-imposed geo-restrictions.

It all sounds very techie, but don't worry, using a VPN app is easy. 

All you need to do is connect to a VPN server located in a country with no restrictions in place. X will see your spoofed IP address and assume you're physically in the same place as the server you choose.

It's worth noting that there have been reports about VPN providers allegedly disappearing from the Brazilian Apple App Store. These also include TechRadar favorites such as NordVPN, ExpressVPN, Proton VPN, and Surfshark.

At the time, I reached out to some of the providers affected. Most of them, including NordVPN, ExpressVPN, and Surfshark, said they didn't see any indication that their services were unavailable for Apple users in Brazil. Proton VPN was the only provider to confirm a problem on the app store level.

Either way, I suggest downloading the VPN app before entering the country. I also recommend checking out our best free VPN page so that you can download a few secure freebies and hop from one to another in case one provider stops working.