The Brazilian Supreme Court has ordered a nationwide blockade of the online service Telegram. Since Telegram does not comply with court orders to remove posts containing disinformation, the messenger service in Brazil will be blocked with immediate effect, the court ordered in a decision published yesterday.
Telegram’s “disregard for Brazilian laws and its repeated failures to comply with countless court decisions” are incompatible with the rule of law, Judge Alexandre de Moraes wrote in his ruling.
Accordingly, Telegram repeatedly refused to comply with rulings and requests from the police, the state election commission and the Supreme Court. This includes, among other things, an investigation ordered by the Supreme Court into allegations that the government of far-right President Jair Bolsonaro used official communication channels to spread false information.
Telegram is installed on 53 percent of mobile phones in Brazil. The message service is very popular with Bolsonaro and his supporters. The President responded to the Supreme Court’s decision by calling on Twitter to subscribe to his Telegram channel, which was still working in the afternoon.
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