The second NFL game of the 2024 season, between the Green Bay Packers and the Philadelphia Eagles, takes place on Friday, and we already have issues.
Last week, a Brazilian Supreme Court justice ordered that the social media platform X be suspended in South America’s most populous country, which presents a huge problem for the upcoming game.
This ban affects the estimated 22 million Brazilian users of X, formerly known as Twitter.
Among that 22 million will now be a few hundred players, staff, and reporters coming into the country for the Eagles and Packers game.
To get around the ban, longtime reporter Dianna Russini stated on X that the wives of many Philadelphia beat reporters are tweeting for them while back home, where it is still legal to do so.
The wives of the Philadelphia beat reporters tweeting for them back in Philly/NJ because their husbands aren’t allowed to tweet in Brazil may be my favorite sidebar story of the week. I hope they let it rip tonight. #Eagles #Packers
— Dianna Russini (@DMRussini) September 6, 2024
Zach Berman, who covers the Philadelphia Eagles for PHLY, is one of those reporters. His wife and kids took to his account and posted a family picture, letting everyone know they were controlling things.
“Btw, we’re controlling Zach’s twitter account while he’s in Brazil. He might miss Twitter more than he misses us!”
Btw, we’re controlling Zach’s twitter account while he’s in Brazil. He might miss twitter more than he misses us! pic.twitter.com/xX5vIS5PEM
— Zach Berman (@ZBerm) September 4, 2024
Friday’s NFL game between the Philadelphia Eagles and Green Bay Packers in São Paulo is the league’s first regular season contest played in South America, and the ban on X is putting a huge damper on things.
Reporters Covering The Eagles-Packers Speak Out On X Over Ban In Country
A Brazilian judge suspended the use of X (formerly Twitter) in the country last month, which meant the NFL’s first game in South America that features the Philadelphia Eagles and Green Bay Packers wouldn’t have the type of coverage they thought it would online.
If the app is banned, how will beat writers for those teams tweet out information before, during, and after the game?
Many of those Eagles and Packers reporters spoke out:
Zach Berman, who covers the Eagles, said before he departed on Tuesday night that he would be sending out information via Instagram, YouTube, and the PHLY website while his wife does his X feed:
Landing in 9 hours in Brazil.
Uncertain what the Twitter/X situation will be — you can follow updates on IG/threads at z_berman. We’ll have live updates on YouTube and on https://t.co/xjOGd9gAIz.
(And if you see updates on here, it’s likely someone posting from Philly.) pic.twitter.com/QliXqMDPHT
— Zach Berman (@ZBerm) September 4, 2024
The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Jeff McLane, EJ Smith, and Olivia Reiner stated they would be posting to Threads.
Taking off for Brazil shortly, which means I’ll be saying a tearful goodbye to this app for a few days. (I’m positively devastated, trust me.)
If you want in-person updates from the game, you know what to do …https://t.co/7TmG1jk2uY
— EJ Smith (@EJSmith94) September 4, 2024
I’m off to São Paulo tonight! If I’m not able to tweet from Brazil, there are other ways to stay up-to-date with me and my @PhillyInquirer colleagues.
– I’m now on Threads! https://t.co/zHWZud9zM0
– I’ll be live from Corinthians Arena with @EJSmith94 on GameDay Central at 6:45…
— Olivia Reiner (@ReinerOlivia) September 3, 2024
Matt Schneidman, who covers the Packers for the Athletic, made it clear that people telling him to use a VPN would cost him a ton of money:
All you people telling me to use a VPN didn’t tell me it would cost me $8,900. I’ll catch you on The Athletic’s live blog. https://t.co/1PaHSXFsHA pic.twitter.com/6O2eGezXkd
— Matt Schneidman (@mattschneidman) September 2, 2024
All you people telling me to use a VPN didn’t tell me it would cost me $8,900. I’ll catch you on The Athletic’s live blog. https://t.co/1PaHSXFsHA pic.twitter.com/6O2eGezXkd
— Matt Schneidman (@mattschneidman) September 2, 2024
