Brazilian government tries to prevent Telegram blockade

The Brazilian government presented this Saturday, through the Office of the Attorney General of the Union (AGU), a remedy to prevent the blocking of the popular Telegram messaging application, determined the day before by a supreme court judge.

Federal Supreme Court (STF) judge Alexandre de Moraes ordered the National Telecommunications Agency and internet operators to “completely and comprehensively” suspend Telegram's operation throughout Brazil.

The magistrate considers that the company repeatedly failed to comply with court orders seeking to combat misinformation and that it does not cooperate with the authorities in the suppression of other crimes.

In his appeal, sent to another STF judge, the Advocate General of the Union, Bruno Bianco, argued that this is a “disproportionate” measure.

With the intention of acting against “few investigated, it harms the millions of users of the messaging service,” many of whom use it for their “subsistence,” he argued in his request, released in the press this Saturday.

Bianco argues that Brazilian law allows this type of sanctions to be applied “to connection providers or internet applications (such as Telegram or Whatsapp)” in the event of a breach of privacy or other infringements, but not for breaching court orders, so he asked to reverse the measure.

On Saturday morning, the application was still working, although mobile operators such as TIM were already advising their customers by SMS that Telegram would be blocked as of Monday.

The far-right president Jair Bolsonaro, who has more than a million followers and numerous support groups on Telegram, called the suspension “inadmissible” and said it threatens “the “freedom” of Brazilians.

A key platform in the government strategy ahead of the October elections, Telegram had long been in the sights of the Brazilian justice system.

Judicial authorities have been particularly 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 upcoming elections, such as the one that shook up the 2018 election campaign.

Following the suspension order, Telegram's founder, Russian Pavel Durov, apologized to Brazil's supreme court and said the blockade was due to a “communication problem” over misplaced e-mails.

The businessman asked the court to postpone the order to “remedy the situation by appointing a representative in Brazil” and improving communication with the court.

The STF has not yet spoken.

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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