The Supreme Court (Stf) judge of Brazil who ordered the suspension of the Telegram messaging app overturned his own decision this Sunday after the company complied with the court orders that led to the blockade.
“Considering that the court’s requests have been fully satisfied”, “I revoke the decision to fully and completely suspend Telegram’s operations in Brazil”wrote Judge Alexandre de Moraes in one of the Stf.
The decision to block the platform nationwide, published on Friday, was never implemented and Telegram continued to function normally over the weekend.
After the suspension announcement, Telegram founder Pavel Durov, who is of Russian origin, apologized to the Supreme Court and said so the violations that led to the ban were due to a “communication problem” caused by misplaced emails, Ask for more time to process court orders and avoid the deadlock.
The day before (Saturday), the judge granted the company an additional 24 hours to comply with all requests, including the appointment of a legal representative in Brazil and the removal of certain publications and profiles and explain to the judiciary what action it is taking to combat disinformation.
He had also requested the removal of a publication by Bolsonaro last August in which the president questioned the reliability of Brazil’s electronic voting system, in place since 1996, without any evidence.
The publication was no longer available since the previous day (Saturday): “This message cannot be displayed” because it “violates local laws,” it said instead.
Dubaibased Telegram is a key element in farright President Jair Bolsonaro’s strategy ahead of October’s elections, is installed on 53% of Brazil’s mobile phones and is the country’s fastestgrowing platform, according to the court Electoral Boss.
Given the uncertainty due to the eventual blocking of this social network, Mobile network operators such as TIM had already warned their customers via SMS that they would be blocked from Monday.
Bolsonaro, who has more than a million followers and numerous support groups on Telegram, called the suspension “unacceptable” on Friday and said it threatens “the freedom” of Brazilians. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres) Photo: APThe government appealed
Amid the legal battle, the Brazilian government attempted to reverse the suspension. The Attorney General of the Union (AGU) He appealed before another STF judge early Saturday, arguing the measure against Telegram was “disproportionate” and lacked any legal basis. The STF has not yet decided on this application.
Bolsonaro, who has more than a million followers and numerous support groups on Telegram, called the suspension “unacceptable” on Friday and said it threatens “the freedom” of Brazilians.
The President has been concentrating his militancy in groups and channels for months telegram, after seeing some of his posts on YouTube, Twitter and Facebook deleted due to incorrect information.
In a message posted to Twitter, while announcing the inauguration of a government work, Bolsonaro said: “Every day, our telegram brings many actions of national interest that unfortunately are missed by many.”
“Be welcome and share the truth‘ he wrote while promoting his channel on Telegram.
On its website, it boasts of “ensuring that no likeminded government or bloc of countries can invade people’s privacy and freedom of expression.”
This company, which is banned or restricted in several countries such as India and Russia, has long been the target of the electoral judiciary and the Supreme Court, particularly upset by the fact that the company has no legal representation in Brazil and is not responding to their demands in order to avoid an avalanche of disinformation at the next elections like the ones that rocked the 2018 campaign.
In the past year, the electoral judiciary in Brazil tried unsuccessfully to meet with representatives of telegram that the company is collaborating in the fight against disinformation before the presidential election in October, as promised by Twitter, TikTok, Facebook, WhatsApp, Google, Instagram, YouTube and Kwai.
The application, which has been banned or restricted in several countries such as India and Russia, has long been in the sights of Brazilian judicial authorities, particularly over the fact that the company had no legal representation in Brazil and failed to respond to their calls, an avalanche in the next elections avoiding the disinformation that rocked the 2018 election campaign.
Unlike other applications telegram allows groups of up to 200,000 people, unlimited user channels and moderates virtually no content, so the potential for viral content is endless.
Also, it has secret chats and messages can selfdestruct.
With information from AFP