Earlier this month, the row between X, formerly Twitter, and the Brazilian government reached a crescendo when the social media platform was banned in the country. The dispute initially started in April when the site, and its owner Elon Musk, refused to follow a judge’s ruling to suspend dozens of X accounts for allegedly spreading disinformation. 

On the latest episode of iGaming Daily, host Joe Streeter, Editor of Casinobeats, was joined by Fernando Noodt and Isadora Marcante from the SBC Noticias team to delve deeper into the implications of Brazil’s X prohibition.

X/Twitter is a platform that is used extensively by gaming operators and to begin the trio considered what this could mean for social media marketing in the country.

Isadora said: “I see Twitter as the most interactive platform out there, much more than Instagram, Facebook and Threads. Once you cut that out, you’re not only cutting the interaction between the company and the players but you cannot do ads anymore. 

“Twitter is a huge thing and we know it has a good rate of conversion. You cannot promote anymore, share your bonuses, and tips for players or share exclusive news that the company has.

“When you cannot do that, you cannot reach these customers because, especially in Brazil, we have a lot of sports betting companies on Twitter and on Instagram, but it’s not the same [on Instagram]. You don’t get the same interaction and the same engagement that you see on Twitter.”

Fernando agreed and added that other social media sites do not have the same range of demographics on their platform which means that companies will have to assess how to target different audiences.

The Twitter ban will also push operators to put more focus on traditional advertising channels like TV and sports sponsorship deals. However, Fernando noted that this could come with regulatory challenges of their own.

He said: “They’re probably going to have to go to traditional advertising and that has become a very big focus in other regulated markets that are saying, maybe betting companies are being a bit too aggressive with their advertising so that may bring a negative impact.

“There’s a fine line between integrity and advertising so this is also going to be a big challenge is this ban on X doesn’t get overturned.”

Some markets across Europe and North America have already considered or implemented restrictions on advertising and sponsorship by gaming operators. Furthermore, in recent days in Brazil a parliamentarian from President Lula’s Workers Party proposed a ban on promotions and advertising around sports betting – however, both Fernando and Isadora agreed that it is unlikely that the Brazilian congress will vote in favour of it.

Another fear for businesses is that the ban on X could be the start, and similar decisions could be made for other platforms, further restricting social media marketing.

“If governments can take this type of action, there will be a nervousness that it could be other platforms in the future if they aren’t taking the exact steps that the government wants,” explained Isadora.

“It’s really dangerous because it gives you a lot of legal insecurity because you don’t know what’s going to happen. And, this could actually stop companies from coming to Brazil because [they are] not going to know what’s going to happen next. So why would they invest all of their money in a country that they don’t know what’s going on.”