The justice of the Brazilian supreme court who ordered to block the Telegram application in that country gave the company 24 hours on Saturday to comply with the pending court orders and be able to reverse the suspension. “Until now, Telegram has partially complied with the judicial determinations, requiring full compliance to reverse the decision,” says a new resolution by Federal Supreme Court (STF) Judge Alexandre de Moraes, who believes that the company failed to comply with court orders to combat misinformation and that it does not cooperate with the authorities in the suppression of other crimes.
The magistrate's decision to suspend the platform throughout Brazil had been announced last Friday.
A key part of President Jair Bolsonaro's strategy for the October elections, the messaging application continued to function normally this Saturday, although mobile phone operators such as TIM were already advising their customers by SMS that it would be blocked as of Monday.
The new deadline for reversing the decision came after the Telegram founder apologized to the supreme court and claimed that the breaches that led to the blockade were due to a “communication problem” over misplaced e-mails, asking for more time to comply with court orders.
After “the establishment of the platform's communication with the STF”, Moraes agreed to give the company 24 hours to comply with pending determinations, including appointing a legal representative in Brazil, removing profiles and detailing the measures the company is taking to combat misinformation .
At the same time, the Brazilian government was trying to reverse the suspension. The General Advocate of the Union (AGU) filed an appeal early this Saturday morning with another STF judge arguing that the measure against Telegram is “disproportionate” and has no legal basis. For the time being, the STF has not commented on this request.
Bolsonaro, who has more than one million followers and numerous support groups on Telegram, called the suspension “inadmissible” on Friday, saying it threatens “freedom” for Brazilians.
Telegram, which has been banned or restricted in several countries, such as India and Russia, has long been in the sights of the electoral justice and the supreme court, especially upset that the company does not have legal representation in Brazil and does not respond to their demands to avoid an avalanche of misinformation in the coming elections, such as the one that shook the 2018 election campaign.
Last year, the Brazilian electoral justice system unsuccessfully tried to meet with Telegram representatives to help the company fight misinformation ahead of the October presidential elections, as Twitter, TikTok, Facebook, WhatsApp, Google, Instagram, YouTube and Kwai pledged.
Based in Dubai, Telegram is installed on 53% of Brazilian mobile phones and is the fastest growing platform in the country, according to the Superior Electoral Court.
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