Brazil Court Bans Telegram (Again) For Not Sharing Information
The court ordered telephone operators and app stores to remove the app immediately.
19:20 UTC: Text updated with the comment from Telegram CEO.
- "A federal court ordered a temporary ban on Telegram in Brazil after the messaging service refused to share information about neo-Nazi groups with the country’s Federal Police."
- "The company will be fined 1 million reais ($197,600) per day until it complies with the court order, according to the decision."
- "The Federal Police requested access to Telegram as part of an investigation into a November school shooting in the city of Aracruz, the authorities said."
“There are groups there called anti-Semitic fronts operating on these networks,” Justice Minister Flavio Dino told journalists on Wednesday.
- "The order against the Dubai-based social media platform follows a widening clampdown on so-called fake news and hate speech online by President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s administration."
- "Nearly two-thirds of Brazilian smartphone users have downloaded Telegram, according to one recent survey."
- "This is not the first time the company has run afoul of Brazilian authorities. Last year, a Supreme Court judge briefly banned the platform after it failed to respond to orders to take down posts and channels accused of spreading misinformation."
- "Then, Telegram worked quickly to comply with the demands, claiming it had missed emails. And two days after the court ordered Internet providers and app stores remove Telegram, the court reversed the ban — essentially before it took effect."
Here's what Telegram's founder and CEO Pavel Durov had to say about the situation in his Telegram channel:
