Brazil has lifted its ban on Telegram, which had been blocked by the country’s Supreme Court for failing to comply with court orders.
“Considering that the (court’s requested changes) were fully attended to, I revoke the decision to fully and completely suspend the operation of Telegram in Brazil,” Justice Alexandre de Moraes wrote in a document released by the court.
Justice de Moraes had previously demanded that Anatel, the telecommunications agency, officially suspend Telegram until it complied with local orders and paid fines.
“The app has always been willing to collaborate with the authorities. What happened was a misunderstanding regarding communication,” said Alan Thomaz, Telegram’s lawyer in Brazil, who was appointed on Sunday as part of the platform’s response to the court.
Telegram, which has become a communications hub for President Jair Bolsonaro, is said to have failed to prevent users from spreading disinformation.
Pavel Durov, the founder and CEO of Telegram, apologised to the Brazilian Supreme Court for the oversight.
He asked the court to consider postponing its decision for a few days at its discretion.”to allow us to remedy the situation by appointing a representative in Brazil and setting up a framework to react to future pressing issues like this in an expedited manner”.
“The last three weeks have been unprecedented for the world and for Telegram. Our content moderation team was flooded with requests from multiple parties,” Durov had said, mentioning how people are using the platform using Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
