Brazil’s first lady, Rosangela "Janja" da Silva, made headlines after a controversial comment directed at billionaire Elon Musk, owner of X (formerly Twitter), at an event focused on social media regulation and disinformation.

During the panel, a loud noise startled Janja, who quipped, “I think it’s Elon Musk,” and followed with, “I’m not afraid of you, f*** you, Elon Musk.” The moment, captured on video, quickly went viral on X, drawing a response from Musk, who wrote, “They are going to lose the next election,” followed by laughing emojis.

Musk, soon to join president-elect Donald Trump’s administration, has had a strained relationship with Brazil, particularly over disinformation regulations. Earlier this year, Brazil’s supreme court suspended X for 40 days amid legal disputes over disinformation, a move supported by President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva as a necessary action against misinformation.

Musk’s ties to former president Jair Bolsonaro, a right-wing ally who plans to run for office again in 2026 despite his disqualification over election-related convictions, add to the complexities. Bolsonaro posted a screenshot of Janja’s remark, commenting, “We now have another diplomatic problem.”

As the G20 summit begins in Rio on Monday, this incident underscores ongoing tensions surrounding social media regulation and political polarization in Brazil.