There’s no X in Brazil. Celebrity fandom worldwide is in disarray

Ana Claudia, a salesperson at a cellphone case store located inside the bus station, shows the last X post she received before the social media platform was blocked nationwide in Brasilia, Brazil, on Sept 2, 2024. — AP

It was a rapture and a revelation all at the same time.

En masse, celebrity stan accounts posted tearful farewells over the weekend as X was suspended in Brazil amid a showdown between Elon Musk and a Supreme Court justice. Many of their hundreds of thousands of followers learned only then that their favourite celebrity’s most dedicated English-language fan accounts had actually been run by Brazilians.