(Brasilia) A judge of the Supreme Court of Brazil on Friday blocked the popular online messenger Telegram, widely used by far-right President Jair Bolsonaro and his networks seven months before the presidential election, in a country plagued by disinformation.
Posted at 8:57 p.m.
On several occasions, Telegram “did not comply with judicial orders”, wrote Judge Alexandre de Moraes in his judgment published on the official website of the Supreme Court, which orders “the complete and integral suspension of the operation in Brazil of Telegram », downloaded on 53% of mobile phones.
Brazil’s Minister of Justice and Security, Anderson Torres, said on Twitter that millions of Brazilians were “suddenly wronged by an individual decision” and added that his ministry was studying “a solution to give back to the people the right to use the social network”, without specifying what measure he intended to adopt.
This encrypted online messaging service founded by Russian Pavel Durov, headquartered in Dubai, was a keystone of Mr. Bolsonaro’s campaign strategy, which aims for October presidential re-election and defends the freedom of expression without limits.
Pavel Durov, on Friday apologized to the Brazilian Supreme Court and said it was a “communication problem”.
“It seems that we had a problem with the emails between our corporate addresses telegram.org and the Supreme Court of Brazil. As a result of this communication problem, the court ordered to block Telegram because we did not respond,” Durov wrote on his platform.
“On behalf of our team, I apologize to the Brazilian Supreme Court for our negligence,” added Durov, who asked for a new delay to meet the demands of Brazilian justice.
Unlike other platforms, on Telegram there is practically 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.
“Our Telegram account gives daily information on actions of national interest [du gouvernement]which are unfortunately omitted by many” media, the head of state wrote on Twitter on Friday, before the publication of Mr. Moraes’ judgment.
The Supreme Court judge cites Telegram’s refusal to block the account of Allan dos Santos, a Bolsonarist blogger under investigation for disinformation, at the request of Brazilian justice.
The magistrate also mentioned the platform’s lack of cooperation in child pornography cases.
He gave 24 hours to the National Telecommunications Agency (Anatel) to enforce his decision and block access to the platform throughout the territory, until Telegram “applies the judicial orders” imposed on him. .
“Territory without law”
“As it does not enforce court decisions, Telegram is a kind of lawless territory. The rules of electoral justice, such as the ban on sending mass messages in groups or early campaigning, do not apply there, ”explained on Twitter on Friday Pablo Ortellado, professor at the University of Sao Paulo and specialist in digital platforms.
On February 15, Telegram was conspicuously absent from an agreement signed by the Superior Electoral Tribunal (TSE) with eight digital platforms (Twitter, TikTok, Facebook, WhatsApp, Google, Instagram, YouTube and Kwai) which pledged to fight the disinformation in view of the presidential election.
TSE President Luis Roberto Barroso claimed in December that “a lot of conspiracy theories and false information” were being disseminated “without any control” on Telegram.
At the time, he had already threatened the application with an “outright suspension in Brazil”.
These remarks had provoked an outraged reaction from President Bolsonaro, for whom such a suspension would be a sign of “cowardice”.
“After the illegal investigations and imprisonments, as well as the censorship of social networks, Brazil is officially a judicial dictatorship! “Reacted Bolsonarist MP Carlos Jordy on Twitter, an allusion to the arrest of Youtubers as part of a Supreme Court investigation into disinformation.
The election of the far-right president in 2018 was marred by the massive dissemination of false information, in particular on WhastsApp, Telegram’s main competitor.
Jair Bolsonaro’s Telegram account has more than a million subscribers, compared to 48,000 for his main likely opponent in the October election, the left-wing ex-president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (2003-2010), who is ahead of him in the polls.