Brazilian Supreme Court rescinds order banning Telegram

• 

A Brazil Supreme Federal Court Judge withdrew a previous decision to block Telegram on Sunday after the messenger agreed with the requirements of local authorities.

The G1 news agency had reported on Friday that the federal police allegedly submitted the motion to stop the instant messaging service, telling the court that Telegram is "notorious for its non-cooperation position with judicial and police authorities in various countries."

According to the police, the messaging app was accused of refusing to comply with authorities and thus creating a platform for the circulation of various items, some of which have "ramifications in the criminal sector."

Later, Telegram founder Pavel Durov apologized to the court, and explained in a statement that the company missed the e-mail the court had sent with the request, as it was sent to the company's old e-mail address.

"At the end of February, we complied with an earlier court decision and, in response, offered to send content takedown requests to a dedicated email address in the future. Unfortunately, our reply must have been lost because the Court used the old general purpose email address in further attempts to contact us," he said.

Durov also said that as a result of this miscommunication, "the Court ruled to ban Telegram for being unresponsive." He apologized to the court, saying they could have "done a better job."

He further requested that the court postpone the ruling for a few days in order to give Telegram the opportunity to fix the situation "by appointing a representative in Brazil and creating the basis for a rapid response to future issues like this."

Telegram had in February blocked US-based pro-Bolsonaro political blogger Allan dos Santos, who has been investigated for distributing "false news and attacking judges."