Last Friday, Brazilian Supreme Federal Court justice Alexandre de Moraes decided to ban Telegram in the country, and requested that Apple, Google, and all phone carriers in Brazil block its service within 5 days (March 23).
According to local media sources, the decision was influenced by Telegram’s refusal to comply with court orders.
According to Founder and CEO Pavel Durov, the ban in Brazil was enacted due to miscommunication and missed emails.
Durov explains:Â
“We complied with an earlier court decision in late February and responded with a suggestion to send future takedown requests to a dedicated email address. Unfortunately, our response must have been lost, because the Court used the old general-purpose email address in further attempts to reach us. As a result, we missed its decision in early March that contained a follow-up takedown request. Luckily, we have now found and processed it, delivering another report to the Court todayâ€
He also added that “the last 3 weeks have been unprecedented for the world and for Telegram.” Since the messaging software has grown in popularity in both Ukraine and Russia—particularly in Russia, where the Kremlin has clamped down on Facebook and Twitter.
Durov said: “Because tens of millions of Brazilians rely on Telegram to communicate with family, friends and colleagues†The CEO has petitioned the Brazilian Supreme Court to delay the shutdown for a few days so that they can rectify the matter, but this does not seem to have stopped Moraes from banning Telegram.
