In late August, Brazil's Supreme Court ordered the social platform X (formerly known as Twitter) owned by Elon Musk to be banned from the country.
The decision was the result of a month-long standoff, with Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes in April ordering an investigation into Musk for “spreading defamatory fake news” as well as “obstruction, incitement and criminal conspiracy.”
As a result, X closed its Brazilian offices in mid-August and was given 24 hours on August 28 to appoint a new legal representative – or face a ban from the country. The company did not comply and the social platform has since been unavailable in Brazil. Before the ban, X had 22 million users from the Latin American country.
On Saturday, Alexandre de Moraes confirmed that X still did not meet the requirements to have the ban lifted, despite appointing a legal representative, and gave the company five days to submit additional documents – which could potentially lead to the ban being lifted.
While this situation may seem removed from the video game industry, the platform's ban has had a direct impact on many independent developers in Brazil who use it as their primary network to reach gamers.
“As a small studio, X was my main social media and I used it for two reasons: to promote my games, [and] stay in touch with other indie developers and the global gaming industry in general,” says Fernando Tittz Gândara Rezende, developer at Games From The Abyss. GamesIndustry.biz. “Without access to it, my international reach has been severely limited, and it's also harder to get fresh news about other indie games, demos, engine news, and the gaming industry as a whole.”
Luciana Guerrero, Rogue Snail's community and social manager, tells us the studio had to find alternative ways to keep its audience engaged. Bluesky was seen as and a hobby solution for many, with the platform experiencing a boom in registrations, gaining more than three million new users in two weeks and dominating the app stores in Brazil.
“Without access to X, my international reach has been severely limited and it's harder to get fresh news about the gaming industry as a whole.”
Fernando Tittz Gândara Rezende
“We were already using the Meta social networks (Facebook and Instagram), as well as TikTok and YouTube,” states Guerrero. “YouTube in particular has become the most important thing to reach gamers around the world.”
However, Rezende points out that growing a YouTube channel is not as easy as building a Twitter account, and that “this kind of content is much more demanding than a tweet, so it's much more difficult for small studios. [or] solo developers who will have to choose between spending their time developing the game or making a video to promote it.”
Nicolas Takada, marketing analyst at QUByte Interactive, says the X ban had a “significant impact” on the company, as it lost “direct contact” with a significant part of its community.
“Our most effective platform was X, where our posts were seen by the most people,” he tells us. “We started investing more time and resources into platforms that we already used but hadn't yet fully explored. For example, Tiktok, which has a growing user base and is emerging as an important alternative, especially for creative content.”
Exploring other platforms has had its ups and downs for studios as they try to find new strategies to reach their audiences.
“Since Instagram and TikTok's algorithms rely heavily on geolocation, this has severely limited the ability of Brazilian developers to reach a global audience,” Guerrero points out. “Bluesky is still relatively new and most of the migration is from Brazilian users. While this is great for local networks, it also comes with risks. Without partners in the US or Europe to help expand our reach, connectivity is more difficult.” with a global audience, especially for small and medium-sized studios with limited financial and human resources for paid traffic This could help compensate for the lack of organic engagement via Twitter/X.
“I believe the market will adapt and platforms like Bluesky can grow to reach the level of influence of Twitter/X. But for now, it's clear that Twitter/X has been one of the key platforms for us to connect with people around the world.”
Rezende says that Discord can be a good alternative, but it takes a bit of effort to get people to it, while Reddit has rules against self-promotion, making it difficult for fur studios to use.
“Overall, Brazilian developers will have a marketing disadvantage,” he says, as long as the X ban is in effect.
Takada adds: “We've always had an audience outside of Brazil, so X was a crucial tool for expanding into international markets. Thanks to it, we were able to communicate with influencers and had an easier global communication. We had to adapt without it by focusing more on tools like Discord.”
Rezende mentions that while Bluesky was good, it doesn't have as big a user base as X globally, so the reach remains affected.
“I also think that most people who have access to X still prefer to post and interact on it rather than on Bluesky. That means Bluesky users can learn things later,” he says, noting that in addition to the community aspect, he worries about long-term effects if the situation persists, such as a drop in sales.
“Given that X has been the primary social media for several game developers and one of the few platforms that does not have a regional algorithm, studios that rely on international sales will likely find it more difficult to reach a global audience, leading to [fewer] sale, [and] to a situation where it is increasingly difficult to maintain a studio.
“We will have to adapt, come up with different ways to promote and sell our games, and also share these experiences with each other until we find more effective ways. We may have to let go of the international audience a bit and fully embrace the Brazilian customers, we may find other ways to reach international audience, only time will tell, but in the meantime it will probably affect the sales of Brazilian games.”
As the studios' organic reach was affected by the ban, Rogue Snail's Guerrero says the studio had to rely more on ads and paid traffic.
“But it's harder for other global game studios to compete because they still have access to Twitter/X, which allows them to more easily connect with their international audience,” he says. “We're working on it by finding external partners to manage our Twitter/X accounts and trying to mitigate this problem. But we know it's not a viable solution for every studio in Brazil, which makes things more challenging.”
Beyond the impact on game studios in Brazil, however, Guerrero understands the ban and highlights Musk's reckless attitude.
“While Twitter/X is an important tool for reaching a global audience, we cannot support Elon Musk's disregard for Brazilian law. Decisions made by our judiciary require him to comply with local regulations, including blocking accounts associated with individuals convicted of spreading disinformation.” and attacking democratic institutions This isn't about censorship or free speech – it's about following the law for Twitter/X and allowing Musk to disobey court orders – such as not blocking accounts convicted in legal cases – sets a dangerous precedent. It would suggest that major fintech owners can treat our country as an irresponsible testing ground.
“While Twitter/X is an important tool to reach a global audience, we cannot support Elon Musk ignoring Brazilian laws”
Luciana Guerrero
“If Elon Musk follows the necessary legal procedures, it is very likely that Twitter/X will return to normal operations. However, given his current attitude, I am not optimistic that this will be resolved soon.”
It's worth noting that our interview took place last week, ahead of Saturday's developments, during which a legal representative was finally appointed for X in Brazil. So the odds look a bit more promising now, but X will remain a controversial platform because of its owner.
“At this point, it's difficult to predict the long-term effects,” says Takada. “For many Brazilian developers, especially small and independent studios, X has been the main platform for community building, promotion and international exposure.
He continues: “We are confident that this situation will be resolved quickly so that publishers and developers in Brazil can regain access to X. While we have been able to refocus on other platforms, the adaptability and reach of X has been unmatched, especially for indie developers. trying to spread the word about their work internationally.”
At the end of our chat, Rezende advises Brazilian developers to continue to support each other and find opportunities together.
“My recommendation for other Brazilian developers is don't wait to resolve it. Try to find different solutions! And since we're all on the same page, share your experiences with other developers so we can all learn from our hits and misses.”