The thriving “stan” communities on X that have helped define modern fandom and culture are a little quieter these days.
The backbone of stan Twitter has been almost entirely silenced, an unintended casualty of Brazil’s move to suspend X for defying court orders to take down accounts and posts that violated its laws around political misinformation and hate speech. In recent years, “Come to Brazil!” had become a common refrain on the platform, owing to just how many Brazilians embraced it as a place to promote their favorite artists.
“We are not in the worldwide conversation,” Aianne Amado, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of São Paulo and professor at Federal University of Sergipe researching Brazilian fandom, said of the platform’s absence. “And without us, there is less discussion, less trends, less information, so I think the artists will suffer for sure.”
Alexandre de Moraes, the top justice on the Brazilian Supreme Court, banned X in the country last Friday until the company agrees to comply with the court’s orders. The court also ordered X to appoint a legal representative in the country to handle government takedown notices, as is required of social media companies by law.
X refused to comply with the court’s orders and a panel of justices on the Supreme Court upheld de Moraes’ decision. Brazil has one of the largest user bases on X with over 21 million users, according to Statista.
Elon Musk, who acquired X in late 2022, took to his platform to criticize de Moraes. A new account affiliated with X called the “Alexandre Files” was created in an attempt to discredit the top justice. However, experts told NBC News that Musk and the account have been misconstruing the court orders and Brazilian laws.
The decision was difficult on Brazilian fandoms, most of which primarily posted on X. Still, many users behind popular fan accounts accepted the ruling as necessary.
“Although I know [X] is a big part of the stan community, and it’s part of what I do with Ariana Grande Brasil, I know that Elon has defied the legal system and actions should be done,” said André Rodrigues, who is one of 11 people running a Brazilian Ariana Grande fan account with over 286,000 X followers.
Hours before the ban went into effect, numerous X users expressed how crucial the Brazilian community is to stan Twitter. Some said goodbye to their favorite pop culture update accounts and artist fan pages, many of which are based in Brazil. Several Brazilian stan accounts shared their final posts with the tag #MeuUltimoTweet, or #MyLastTweet, and many have not posted since.
The reaction from the international stan community to the Brazilian X ban underscores the contributions Brazilian fans have made to the evolution of online fandom. Over the years, online fan communities have become major cultural forces, playing crucial roles in the promotion of artists, the creation of trends and even the engagement of young voters.
Brazilian fans have created popular memes, influenced how fans communicate with each other and introduced new terminology, Amado said.
“Without X here, it will impact stan accounts worldwide,” she said.
Rodrigues said that stan accounts like his often translate announcements, post real-time updates about an artist’s projects and organize fan events such as listening parties.
“Being a big stan account or an update account feels like it’s very invisible work,” Rodrigues said. “I think this ban proved that we have some value, that the work we do is important.”
While X has struggled to keep users after it was acquired by Musk, stan accounts have largely stayed on the platform. It has been difficult to relocate the existing robust fan communities, which have been congregating on the site since the early days of Twitter.
Maria Eduarda, who helps run the fan account Update Olivia Brasil dedicated to Olivia Rodrigo, said in an email that X is “the main and largest platform for stan communities in Brazil.” Eduarda said the platform has the highest engagement among fans compared with other social media sites.
“Unfortunately, after it was banned, the engagement dropped drastically,” Eduarda said of the Update Olivia Brasil account. “We didn’t actively use other platforms, so it’s been a bit difficult to recover what we had on X.”
Amado said the ban may affect some artists’ promotional strategies because Brazilian fans, especially those on X, are effective at getting others engaged with an artist’s work.
Amado said a good example of the organizational prowess of these fans is last year’s welcoming of Taylor Swift to Brazil during her Latin America Eras Tour run. She said Brazilian Swifties on X were integral in getting a projection resembling her iconic “You Belong With Me” shirt onto Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro.
Grande fan Rodrigues agreed the ban could affect artists’ promotional strategies in Brazil. Ariana Grande Brasil, Update Olivia Brasil and various other Brazilian fan accounts for pop stars have had some support from Universal Music Brazil. Rodrigues said that the label has teamed up with fan accounts to help boost whatever artists are promoting in the country.
Universal Music Group and Universal Music Brazil did not respond to requests for comment.
Some accounts have been using virtual private networks (VPNs) to access X, while others have tried to move their accounts to other platforms like Bluesky. Bluesky reported 2.6 million new users in the days following the ban, over 85% of which are Brazilian.
Still, many are holding out hope that the ban will soon be lifted, although it’s unclear how long it may last.
“We don’t believe the ban will be permanent,” Eduarda said. “Of course, the owner of X needs to cooperate for things to work.”
CORRECTION (Sept. 10, 2024, 3:52 p.m. ET): A previous version of this article misstated the name of a fan account. It is Update Olivia Brasil, not Olivia Rodrigo Brasil.