Brazil | Supreme Court judge reverses decision to block Telegram

(Brasilia) The Brazilian Supreme Court judge who gave Telegram 24 hours on Saturday to avoid being blocked lifted the threat on Sunday, saying online messaging had complied with court orders.

Posted at 5:11 p.m.
Updated at 5:33 p.m.

Considering that the requests of the Supreme Court of Brazil have been “fully satisfied”, “I revoke the decision to completely and completely suspend the operation of Telegram in Brazil”, wrote Judge Alexandre de Moraes in a judgment made public by the Court supreme.

The judge decided to block the popular online messaging service on Friday, widely used by far-right President Jair Bolsonaro and his networks seven months before the presidential election, in a country plagued by misinformation.

This decision “is inadmissible”, then reacted President Bolsonaro, estimating that the judge’s decision affected “70 million people”. “What is at stake is our freedom,” the president said. Telegram is downloaded on approximately 53% of mobiles in Brazil.

On Saturday, the judge had finally given 24 hours to Telegram to comply with the law, estimating that the messaging had then “partially complied with judicial orders”.

The 24-hour deadline was given after Pavel Durov – the Russian founding boss of Dubai-headquartered Telegram – apologized to the Supreme Court, citing a “communications problem” while demanding a new deadline. to meet the requirements of Brazilian justice.

In the end, messaging never stopped working normally at the end of the week.

Encrypted online messaging is a keystone of Mr. Bolsonaro’s campaign strategy, which is aiming for presidential re-election in October and defending freedom of expression without limits.

Unlike other platforms, on Telegram there is virtually no content moderation of messages and groups can gather up to 200,000 members, which greatly increases the viral potential of false information.

This has earned Telegram sanctions in some countries, from the suspension – temporary or permanent – ​​of its services to the targeted blocking of certain accounts or groups of users.


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