A judge of Brazil's Federal Supreme Court ordered the blocking of Telegram on Friday, a key medium for President Jair Bolsonaro and his supporters in the face of the elections, considering that the popular platform does not collaborate with the authorities or combat disinformation.
Judge Alexandre de Moraes stated that the platform “stopped attending court orders” on several occasions and determined “the complete and complete suspension of Telegram's operation in Brazil”, in the decision published on the STF website.
The popular platform, of Russian origin and based in Dubai, is installed on 53% of Brazilian mobile phones and is the fastest growing in Brazil, according to the Superior Electoral Court.
And it is key to the electoral strategy of far-right president Jair Bolsonaro, who defends unlimited freedom of expression, in line with the platform.
In his decision, which responds to a request from the Federal Police, the judge gave the National Telecommunications Agency (Anatel) 24 hours to “immediately take all necessary measures to give effect to the measure”.
It also called on Apple and Google companies and internet providers in Brazil to adopt mechanisms within five days to make the use of the application unfeasible in the country.
Telegram's “complete and comprehensive” suspension will last “until effective compliance with the judicial decisions previously issued,” said the judge, who imposed a daily fine of 100,000 reais, about 20,000 dollars, on companies that violate his order.
On Friday afternoon, the app was still working.
Among the orders unfulfilled by Telegram that have led to its blocking, Moraes cites keeping open profiles related to the bolsonarist blogger Allan dos Santos, who is investigated for spreading misinformation, and also the lack of collaboration in cases of sexual abuse of minors and child pornography.
He also recalls that Brazil's Supreme Electoral Tribunal unsuccessfully tried to convene Telegram representatives to a meeting for the company to collaborate in the fight against misinformation in the face of the presidential elections in October, as Twitter, TikTok, Facebook, WhatsApp, Google, Instagram, YouTube and Kwai were compromised.
- A “not surprising” measure -
The platform, which has been subject to prohibition or restrictive measures in several countries, such as India and Russia, has long been in the sights of the Brazilian authorities, especially annoyed by the fact that the company does not have legal representation in Brazil and does not respond to their demands in order to avoid an avalanche of misinformation in the October elections such as the one that shook up the 2018 election campaign, especially via WhatsApp.
“The measure is neither surprising nor unexpected and will have great political and electoral repercussions,” Pablo Ortellado, coordinator of the Digital Political Debate Monitor, commented on Twitter.
For the professor, the blockade leaves Telegram two alternatives: “Either it responds to the Brazilian justice system to avoid losing one of its biggest markets (...) or it will be permanently blocked, which would move one of the main pieces of the election campaigns.”
For months now, Bolsonaro has been concentrating his membership in Telegram groups and channels, after seeing some of his posts on Youtube, Twitter and Facebook deleted due to false information.
In a message posted on Twitter this Friday morning, Bolsonaro said, when he announced the inauguration of a work by the government: “Every day our Telegram brings many actions of national interest, unfortunately omitted by many.”
“Be welcome and share the truth,” he wrote, promoting his channel on Telegram.
Unlike other applications, Telegram allows groups of up to 200,000 people, channels with no user limit and practically does not moderate content, so the potential for content to go viral is infinite.
In addition, it has secret chats and messages can be self-destructed.
On its website, it boasts of “ensuring that no government or bloc of like-minded countries can invade people's privacy and freedom of expression.”
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