The judge of the Federal Supreme Court of Brazil who ordered the suspension of the messaging app Telegram overturned his decision this Sunday (2022.2020), after the company complied with court orders that led to the blockade. Judge Alexandre de Moraes wrote in a document issued by STF
The decision to ban the platform across the country, which was published on Friday, has not been implemented, although some operators have announced that it will not be available from Monday. Telegram continued to operate normally over the weekend.
After the suspension was announced, Telegram founder Pavel Durov, of Russian descent, apologized to the Supreme Court and said the breaches that led to the blocking were due to a “communication issue” due to misplaced emails, asking for more time to attend court orders and avoid the blocking.
On Saturday, the judge gave the company an additional 24 hours to comply with all requests, including appointing a legal representative in Brazil, removing certain posts and profiles, and detailing actions it is taking to combat disinformation in court. Among other things, the platform has removed false information published by President Jair Bolsonaro that raised doubts about the transparency of electronic ballot boxes that will be used in the upcoming October elections.
A key piece in Bolsonaro’s strategy for this election, Telegram, based in Dubai, is installed on 53% of Brazilian mobile phones and is the country’s fastest growing platform, according to the Supreme Electoral Tribunal. Bolsonaro himself criticized the judicial action to suspend the platform, also claiming that many Brazilians use it in their daily lives, as well as for their living jobs.
The application, which has been banned or restricted in many countries such as India and Russia, has long been in the sights of the Brazilian judicial authorities, especially alarmed by the fact that the company has no legal representation in Brazil and has not responded to its demands to avoid a torrent of disinformation in the upcoming elections, Like the ones that rocked the 2018 election campaign.
lgc (afp/efe)
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