Telegram is well-known for its encryption and that fact has made it blocked in some countries. Unfortunately though, that list has just been expanded with the addition of Brazil.
Specifically, a Supreme Court judge in Brazil ordered the suspension of the messaging app. Judge Alexandre de Moraes said the company had repeatedly refused to comply with rulings and requests from police and the justice system to help fight disinformation in the run-up to the elections.
“Telegram’s disrespect for Brazilian law and repeated failure to comply with countless court decisions… is completely incompatible with the rule of law,” wrote Moraes.
He said that Brazil’s telecoms regulator has 24 hours to suspend Telegram’s operations nationwide.
The ruling came from a case over an earlier court order, when Telegram ignored the request to block the account of pro-Bolsonaro blogger Allan dos Santos.
Judge Moraes said the messaging app had also refused to comply with several other orders, including cases of child sexual abuse imagery.
The political background
The ruling is seen as a major blow to far-right President Jair Bolsonaro who is seeking reelection in October and has more than a million followers on Telegram, alongside numerous fan groups.
Unsurprisingly, Bolsonaro commented that the ruling as “inadmissible” and that it puts the freedom of Brazilians at risk.
Moraes had “failed to act against the two or three people that according to him should be blocked, so he decided to affect 70 million people,” Bolsonaro said.
The populist president is facing political problems over his response to the COVID-19 pandemic and has relied on Telegram to rally his base.
For what it’s worth, Bolsonaro had issues with social media in the past as his various posts were blocked on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube for violating rules on misinformation.
He currently trails his likely opponent, ex-president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, in the polls.
Telegram blames “miscommunication” for the ruling
Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov apologized for the company’s “negligence” over the disinformation allegations, blaming a “miscommunication” problem in an Instagram post.
Durov asked the court to delay its ruling for a few days as it sought to improve compliance.
The court ruling, however, said Telegram’s behavior had underlined its “total contempt for the Brazilian justice system.”
Court chief Luis Roberto Barroso wrote to Telegram in December requesting a meeting and warning that the app was rife with “conspiracy theories and false information about (Brazil’s) electoral system.”
However, it is worth adding that the platform was absent last month when Brazilian authorities signed an agreement to combat disinformation during the elections with Twitter, TikTok, Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram and YouTube.
Telegram is popular in Brazil
Founded by Pavel Durov in 2013, Dubai-based Telegram is hugely successful in Brazil. In fact, the app has been downloaded on 53% of all mobile phones.
However, Telegram is known for refusing to cooperate, which is why we think of it as one of the best messaging apps out there (in addition to Signal). That feature, however, made it popular with far-right groups around the world.
Still, if you want or need to access Telegram in places where it has been banned, you can do it with a good VPN. We won’t help you find a good VPN, we will help you find the best one. We have such a page which you can visit now and get a VPN for your needs — whether it’s accessing Telegram or something else. Go for it. 😉