Countries that have restricted or banned Telegram

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On Wednesday, the Federal Court of Espírito Santo determined the suspension of Telegram throughout Brazil because the company did not comply with a court decision. Germany has already recently threatened to ban the app entirely. Other countries have already applied restrictions. See which ones. Germany has already considered banning Telegram and Norway prohibits civil servants from using the Getty Images app which involves attacks on schools. The measure was taken because the company “only partially complied with the court order” to provide data on group members with neo-Nazi content within the application. The PF had asked Telegram for information about members and administrators of two online groups that promote anti-Semitism. Obtaining this data is part of the investigation into the attack on a school in the city of Aracruz, carried out by a 16-year-old teenager at the end of last year. In addition to the blockade, Telegram will have to pay a fine of BRL 1 million for each day of delay in the delivery of information. The decision, taken by Judge Wellington Lopes da Silva, from the Federal Court of Espírito Santo, is supported by the law that created the Marco Civil da Internet and which provides for the possibility of platforms being taken offline in urgent situations, when there is risk or imminent damage. people or the population. In other words, it is an exceptional measure to force the collaboration of internet platforms with the authorities in serious cases. Even so, the suspension sparked debate on social media, with some saying it would be authoritarian, “censorship” or a restriction on freedom of expression. But Brazil is not the only country to apply restrictions to Telegram. Germany, for example, has already threatened to ban the app altogether out of fear that it is being used by extremists and to propagate hate speech. BBC News Brasil contacted Telegram’s press office, but did not receive a response until the publication of this report. In a standard message, sent automatically after the request, the platform says that “it is committed to protecting the privacy of users and human rights, such as freedom of expression and demonstration”. BBC News Brasil gathers here some cases in which Telegram was restricted around the world. Germany: account suspension and ban threat In January 2022, the German government threatened to ban the app from the country if it did not comply with local rules to delete messages containing death threats or hate speech and to provide information about the authors of these contents. During the covid-19 pandemic and the implementation of vaccination campaigns, there were several clashes between the German authorities and Telegram. That’s because the app ended up becoming a channel for spreading false news about the virus and mobilizing anti-vaccine groups. A Telegram group, for example, shared several death threats to the governor of the State of Saxony, after he coordinated work to contain street protests against the covid-19 vaccine. Federal Justice of Espírito Santo suspended Telegram in Brazil for failing to comply with the decision to provide information on users of extremist groups Getty Images In view of Telegram’s delay in acting, after requests from the government to delete messages with death threats and identify Home Minister Nancy Faeser said that if the company did not comply with the rules it would not only be fined but also “completely banned”. This would make Germany the first Western country to block the use of the app on its territory. But after that, in February 2022, the German government announced that Telegram had blocked, at the request of the authorities, 64 accounts that would be propagating disinformation and extremist content. In an interview with the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung, the Minister of the Interior declared that the platform was being used more and more for “threats against our people and our democracy”. “Telegram must no longer be an accelerator for right-wing extremists, conspiracy theorists and other agitators. Death threats and other dangerous hate messages must be deleted and have legal consequences,” she said. Norway: vetoing the use of telegram by civil servants Another country that applied restrictions to Telegram, but this time in relation to the use by civil servants, was Norway. In March 2023, the Norwegian Ministry of Justice issued a statement directing ministers, secretaries and civil servants “at all levels” to delete Telegram from cell phones and computers used for work. TikTok, the Chinese social network, was also included in the decision. In the document, Minister Emilie Enger Mehl cites the risk of Russian and Chinese espionage as a reason, as well as the fact that social networks are “the favorite forum of potentially dangerous actors and others who try to influence us with disinformation and fake news”. The measure applies to federal, state and municipal public servants. Telegram rejected the allegations and criticized the decision. “The Norwegian authorities’ concern is based on the misconception that Telegram is a Russian app.” Russia, China, Iran and Belarus: attempts to ban Telegram is now based in Dubai, but was created by Russian Pavel Durov on the premise that users could communicate without government control. The platform became a refuge for Russian dissidents and was used to mobilize and exchange information, avoiding censorship and control by the government of Vladimir Putin. Durov, who is also the founder and CEO of Telegram, left Russia in 2014 after losing control of another company he owned for refusing to provide Russian authorities with data on Ukrainian activists. He settled in Dubai, from where Telegram operates, and today he has French and United Arab Emirates citizenship. Russia ordered the blocking of Telegram in the country in April 2018. But, in June 2020, it lifted the ban on the app, claiming that founder Pavel Durov had committed to collaborating with authorities to combat “terrorism” and “extremism ” on the platform. Other countries, such as China, Iran and Belarus, have taken measures to try to ban the use of Telegram in their territories, after the platform was used to organize demonstrations. Telegram’s press office says the app “has played a prominent role in pro-democracy movements around the world, including in Iran, Russia, Belarus, Myanmar and Hong Kong”. But the app’s assumptions, to avoid as much as possible providing data from its users to authorities, also had the effect of proliferating extremist groups in the app that, according to authorities in countries like Brazil and Germany, propagate hate speech and coordinate violent actions.

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