A federal judge in Brazil ordered the temporary suspension of the messaging app Telegram on Wednesday (26), citing the platform’s alleged failure to provide all requested information to the Federal Police regarding neo-Nazi chat groups. The measure is seen as part of the country’s effort to combat the rise of school violence.
The judge also increased the daily fine for non-compliance to R$ 1 million, up from R$ 100,000, according to the decision released by the press office of the Ministry of Justice.
The federal court’s decision from the state of Espírito Santo stated that “the facts presented by law enforcement authorities show a clear intent by Telegram not to cooperate with the investigation.”
The court’s ruling comes as the country faces a wave of attacks on schools, including one in November where a man with a swastika attached to his vest shot and killed four people and injured 12 in the small town of Aracruz, in the state of Espírito Santo. Brazil has seen nearly two dozen attacks or violent episodes in schools since 2000, half of them in the last 12 months, including the murder of four children in a daycare on April 5 in São Paulo.
The federal government of Brazil has been working to eradicate school violence, particularly focusing on the influence of social media. The regulation of social media platforms was a recurring theme during a meeting in early April between President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, his ministers, Supreme Court justices, governors, and mayors. The goal is to prevent new incidents, mainly holding platforms accountable for not removing content that spreads violence.
Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes referred to social media as a “no man’s land,” where users can still get away with illegal actions and speech in real life, and stated that regulation is necessary. Lula also expressed his support for regulation.
Last year, Moraes ordered the national suspension of Telegram, arguing that the company had not cooperated with authorities. He stated in his decision that Telegram had repeatedly ignored requests from Brazilian authorities, including a police request to block profiles and provide information about a user, and gave Apple, Google, and Brazilian telecom operators five days to block Telegram from their platforms.
At the time, one of Telegram’s founders issued a statement saying there had been a communication failure due to an outdated email address and later apologized to the Supreme Court for his negligence. The platform was not taken down.
App Still Works
Despite the court order from Espírito Santo, several users are still able to read and send messages on Telegram. Others reported that the app was unstable. In other words, it seems that the suspension has not yet been fully implemented.