\n<\/p>\n
Brazil’s first lady has sworn at billionaire Elon Musk at an event ahead of the G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro.<\/p>\n
While advocating for tougher social media regulation on a panel about disinformation, Janja Lula da Silva appeared to be startled by a loud noise, joking, “I think it’s Elon Musk.”<\/p>\n
“I’m not afraid of you,” she went on to say, then swore at the billionaire, who owns Tesla and social media platform X.<\/p>\n
Musk, who was picked to lead the Department of Government Efficiency in incoming US President Donald Trump’s administration, has a complicated relationship with Brazil and its left-wing government. X was briefly banned there this year.<\/p>\n
He reposted a video of the incident, captioned “lol”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
In another post, Musk added two laughing emojis and wrote: “They are going to lose the next election”, apparently referring to President Luiz In\u00e1cio Lula da Silva’s Workers Party.<\/p>\n
Earlier this year, Brazil’s Supreme Court ordered a nationwide ban on X, after it failed to name a legal representative in the country and suspend accounts for allegedly spreading disinformation. The ban was lifted after the platform paid a $5.1m (\u00a33.8m) fine<\/a> more than a month later.<\/p>\n But Musk is also an ally of Brazil’s former far-right President Jair Bolsonaro, who was found guilty of discrediting the electoral system after losing in 2022. Despite the eight-year ban stopping him from running in an election<\/a>, he has declared his intent to run again in the next elections, to be held in 2026.<\/p>\n Bolsonaro, who reposted a screenshot of the video and Musk’s response, said, “We now have another diplomatic problem.”<\/p>\n Leaders of the G20 nations will be meeting for the summit, which starts on Monday.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n