Brazil's Supreme Court has recently decided to unban Telegram in the country after it agreed to freeze accounts involved in spreading misinformation.
According to a New York Times article, the company behind the instant messaging app didn't respond to the Supreme Court's orders as it missed the emails that contained them.
"I apologize to the Brazilian Supreme Court for our negligence, " said Pavel Durov, Telegram's chief executive.
The Telegram ban, which went unnoticed, only lasted two days.
Telegram's Quick Ban Details
The Brazilian Supreme Court previously sent an order of suspension to Telegram on March 17 due to the company refusing to fully cooperate with its concerns with disinformation in the app, per a previous iTechPost article.
At this point, it had also sent multiple requests for cooperation to Telegram. However, the company failed to address the Supreme Court's concerns.
Meanwhile, WhatsApp's parent company, Meta, and Twitter have complied with the Supreme Court's orders.
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In addition to the disinformation concerns, Brazil's Supreme Court banned Telegram due to its noncompliance with its judicial orders directing Telegram to remove messages containing disinformation.
The Telegram ban was ordered and dropped by Supreme Court Judge Alexandre de Moraes, a prominent opponent of President Bolsonaro who is overseeing several investigations into the country's president and his allies.
Telegram's Response to Brazil's Ban
In response to Brazil's ban, Telegram mentioned that it deleted classified information shared by the account of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and removed the accounts of President Bolsonaro's prominent supporters who have been accused of spreading fake news.
Additionally, the company made several changes to its app in Brazil to prevent the spread of misinformation on it, which was something that got Brazilian officials worried before the presidential elections in October. It also started promoting verified information in Brazil and marking false posts as inaccurate.
Telegram is largely considered a social media and messaging app due to its scattershot and lax moderation, according to a Vox article.
The company also has its employees monitoring the 100 most popular channels in Brazil that turnaround 95% of public posts in the country.
"The app has always been willing to collaborate with the authorities," said Telegram's newly-hired lawyer in Brazil, Alan Thomaz. "What happened was a misunderstanding regarding communication."
Effects of Telegram's Ban on the Public
The Brazilian Supreme Court initially ordered Apple, Google, and local phone carriers to block Telegram in five days, while Anatel has given one day to put an official halt to Telegram's operations.
Anatel is Brazil's National Telecommunication Agency.
However, as Telegram complied with the Supreme Court's orders over the weekend, the former dropped the ban only after two days of ordering it.
As a result, the general public did not notice the Telegram ban at all.
Related Article: Brazilian Court Turns to Apple, Google to Block Uncooperative Telegram
