The Philadelphia Eagles and Green Bay Packers play their first game of the NFL season tonight, but this season’s opening is a little different. As the league looks to expand into international markets, the two soccer teams are making history by traveling to Brazil to play the first regular season NFL game in South America.
Sports journalists and avid soccer fans traveling to Sao Paulo this weekend will face an unexpected obstacle: X is now banned in Brazil.
Formerly known as Twitter, the app has changed a lot since Elon Musk acquired it in 2022. But what has remained constant is its indispensability for sports fans. Unlike Instagram, TikTok, or other popular social media apps, this microblogging platform provides the perfect format for quick, real-time reactions to key plays, referee calls, and coaching decisions. The same goes for sports reporters, who regularly post updates about X during games. Since these reporters are on the field and have a direct channel to communicate with team officials, their accounts are especially popular with sports fans during big games.
The Philadelphia Inquirer sent four sports reporters to Brazil to cover the game, but they were careful to post on X to make it clear that the reporters were not breaking any Brazilian laws.
“Because a ban has been issued for X in that country, posts from that account are being redirected here and posted on behalf of that account,” the newspaper posted to X.
Zach Berman, a reporter for PHLY, confused fans by tweeting from Brazil. Then his wife and kids posted selfies claiming to be the ones who posted the post. Meanwhile, Matt Schneidman, a reporter for The Athletic’s Green Bay Packers, didn’t use the X at all and instead directed his followers to his Instagram.
The decision to ban X in Brazil has been controversial. The controversy dates back to April, when Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Morais ordered X to remove seven right-wing accounts that had posted false information supporting former President Jair Bolsonaro. Musk, however, has not complied with the removal request, despite similar requests from the Indian and Turkish governments.
In August, X said Moraes threatened to arrest the company’s Brazilian legal representative if X did not comply with the removal request. X then ceased its operations in Brazil, and in response, a Brazilian court issued an immediate nationwide injunction against X.
Even outside of sports, online fandom tends to be heavily Brazilian, with Brazilian users holding some of the biggest fan accounts for artists like Bruno Mars, Miley Cyrus, and Chappelle Roan. Now, as the Eagles and Packers prepare to face off in Sao Paulo, the cultural impact of the ban is even more evident.
