AGU asks the STF for injunction against Telegram blocking in Brazil

The Attorney General’s Office (AGU) asked the Federal Supreme Court (STF), late on Friday night (18), to suspend the blockade of Telegram in Brazil. The attorney general of the Union, Bruno Bianco, filed a request for a precautionary measure against the order of Alexandre de Moraes that determined the blocking of the messaging app in the country.

AGU’s argument is that failure to comply with a court order, the main reason pointed out in Moraes’ decision, should not cause sanctions against applications of any nature.

“That is why sanctions can be applied to connection providers or internet applications (such as Telegram and Whatsapp) if they do not respect confidentiality.
communications, if they misuse personal data, but not (at least on the basis of the Civil Rights Framework for the Internet) for failing to comply with a court order”, reads the request signed by Bianco.

AGU also argues that all users of the messaging application cannot suffer the consequences of a procedure in which they were not a part. “Think
different, at the same time, it would offend the due process of law, with unlawful repercussions of the judicial order in the face of third parties, in addition to offending, at the same time, the principle of individualization of the penalty”, alleges the document.

In the opinion of the Attorney General of the Union, Alexandre de Moraes’ decision “to reach a few investigated, harms all the millions of users of the messaging service”.

Minister Alexandre de Moraes, of the Federal Supreme Court (STF), determined the blocking of the Telegram messaging app throughout Brazil.

The decision was signed on Thursday (17) and released on Friday (18). After a request from the Federal Police (PF), Moraes determined that digital platforms and internet providers take actions to make the application unfeasible.

In case of non-compliance with the decision, the minister establishes a daily fine of R$ 100 thousand.

Bolsonaro on Telegram blocking: “Immissible decision of this nature”

President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) commented on Moraes’ decision and called the suspension of Telegram’s operations in Brazil an “inadmissible” measure and highlighted the consequences of “a monocratic decision”.

“Millions of people use Telegram in Brazil to make contact with hospitals, patients and doctors; looks at the consequences of a monocratic decision by a minister of the Federal Supreme Court. A decision of this nature is unacceptable,” Bolsonaro said.

“Because it failed to reach two or three people, who in his mind should be banned from Telegram, it affects 70 million people, and can cause deaths in Brazil due to lack of patient-doctor contact,” added the president.

Telegram CEO apologizes for ‘negligence’

The founder and CEO of Telegram, Russian Pavel Durov, spoke about blocking the platform in Brazil. Durov used his Telegram channel to apologize to the Federal Supreme Court (STF) for “negligence” in communication failures.

“We seem to have an issue with emails between our corporate telegram.org addresses and the Supreme Court. As a result of this miscommunication, the Court decided to ban Telegram for not responding. On behalf of our team, I apologize to the Supreme Court for our negligence. We could definitely have done a better job.”

Source: CNN Brasil

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