When Countries Ban Social Media

Brazil’s power struggle with Elon Musk over censorship on X (formerly Twitter) escalated this week, with the country’s Supreme Court upholding a ban on the platform. 40 million Brazilians lost access to the site, which had come under fire for allowing election deniers to incite an insurrection—sound familiar? Erin and Max take a look at other countries that have enacted similar social media bans, including Sri Lanka, Turkey and India. Does it stop the violence? Do tech companies actually care about free speech there? And what does it mean for the world if more governments follow Brazil’s lead and temporarily ban social platforms to pressure companies into compliance? Can governments really be trusted to regulate our online interactions? Find out on this week’s “How We Got Here.”