Telegram forgot to check its email and now it’s banned in Brazil
Mitchell Clark 2 hrs ago
Telegram’s founder and CEO Pavel Durov has just put out a statement about why Brazil’s Supreme Court is now suspending the app, and the reason is incredible. In the statement, which you can read in full below or on Durov’s Telegram channel, he says it was because his company was checking the wrong email address
Mitchell Clark 2 hrs ago
Telegram’s founder and CEO Pavel Durov has just put out a statement about why Brazil’s Supreme Court is now suspending the app, and the reason is incredible. In the statement, which you can read in full below or on Durov’s Telegram channel, he says it was because his company was checking the wrong email address
.
© Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge The company apparently missed the missive.
“It seems that we had an issue with emails going between our telegram.org corporate addresses and the Brazilian Supreme Court,” Durov says, going on to explain that his company asked the court to send future takedown requests “to a dedicated email address.” But the court didn’t do that, apparently — it kept using “the old general-purpose email address,” and Telegram missed them somehow, and now it’s getting banned, unless the court takes pity.
The company says it’s now found those emails (implying that the old address did at least work, which makes it even more bizarre that the emails somehow got missed), and is trying to remedy the situation with the court. There’s a lot of political context surrounding the ban, which stems from accusations that Telegram facilitates the spread of disinformation, and my colleague Adi Robertson lays it out clearly in this story. But to hear Telegram tell it, the whole thing boils down to an issue we all struggle with — keeping track of emails.
It seems that we had an issue with emails going between our telegram.org corporate addresses and the Brazilian Supreme Court. As a result of this miscommunication, the Court ruled to ban Telegram for being unresponsive.
On behalf of our team, I apologize to the Brazilian Supreme Court for our negligence. We definitely could have done a better job.
We complied with an earlier court decision in late February and responded with a suggestion to send future takedown requests to a dedicated email address. Unfortunately, our response must have been lost, because the Court used the old general-purpose email address in further attempts to reach us. As a result, we missed its decision in early March that contained a follow-up takedown request. Luckily, we have now found and processed it, delivering another report to the Court today.
Because tens of millions of Brazilians rely on Telegram to communicate with family, friends and colleagues, I ask the Court to consider delaying its ruling 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 3 weeks have been unprecedented for the world and for Telegram. Our content moderation team was flooded with requests from multiple parties. However, I am certain that once a reliable channel of communication is established, we’ll be able to efficiently process takedown requests for public channels that are illegal in Brazil.
“It seems that we had an issue with emails going between our telegram.org corporate addresses and the Brazilian Supreme Court,” Durov says, going on to explain that his company asked the court to send future takedown requests “to a dedicated email address.” But the court didn’t do that, apparently — it kept using “the old general-purpose email address,” and Telegram missed them somehow, and now it’s getting banned, unless the court takes pity.
The company says it’s now found those emails (implying that the old address did at least work, which makes it even more bizarre that the emails somehow got missed), and is trying to remedy the situation with the court. There’s a lot of political context surrounding the ban, which stems from accusations that Telegram facilitates the spread of disinformation, and my colleague Adi Robertson lays it out clearly in this story. But to hear Telegram tell it, the whole thing boils down to an issue we all struggle with — keeping track of emails.
It seems that we had an issue with emails going between our telegram.org corporate addresses and the Brazilian Supreme Court. As a result of this miscommunication, the Court ruled to ban Telegram for being unresponsive.
On behalf of our team, I apologize to the Brazilian Supreme Court for our negligence. We definitely could have done a better job.
We complied with an earlier court decision in late February and responded with a suggestion to send future takedown requests to a dedicated email address. Unfortunately, our response must have been lost, because the Court used the old general-purpose email address in further attempts to reach us. As a result, we missed its decision in early March that contained a follow-up takedown request. Luckily, we have now found and processed it, delivering another report to the Court today.
Because tens of millions of Brazilians rely on Telegram to communicate with family, friends and colleagues, I ask the Court to consider delaying its ruling 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 3 weeks have been unprecedented for the world and for Telegram. Our content moderation team was flooded with requests from multiple parties. However, I am certain that once a reliable channel of communication is established, we’ll be able to efficiently process takedown requests for public channels that are illegal in Brazil.
Company empowered a law firm in Rio to act on matters of interest to the federal government
Feb.21.2022
Telegram has had a representative in Brazil for seven years to work on matters of interest to the federal government agency in charge of trademark registration in the country. Even so, the company has ignored calls from the Brazilian court and notifications related to elections.
The powers of representation were conferred by the Russian businessman Palev Durov, one of the founders and CEO of the company, to the Araripe & Associados office, based in Rio de Janeiro.
Meanwhile, the platform has eluded orders and requests from Brazilian authorities, including the Superior Electoral Court and the Supreme Court, who make attempts to contact them about demands involving publications on the social network.
Telegram is one of the main concerns for the 2022 elections due to the lack of controls on the dissemination of fake news. It has also become a subject of discussion in Congress and the TSE for possible restrictions on its operation in Brazil.
Folha had access to powers of attorney signed by Durov and which make up the process of registering the brand of the instant messaging application in progress at the National Institute of Industrial Property.
The president of the TSE, Minister Luís Roberto Barroso, sent a letter to Durov, but there was, according to the court, "no record of a response or confirmation of receipt so far." The Federal Public Ministry also did not receive a response.
Translated by Kiratiana Freelon
Telegram is one of the main concerns for the 2022 elections due to the lack of controls on the dissemination of fake news. It has also become a subject of discussion in Congress and the TSE for possible restrictions on its operation in Brazil.
Folha had access to powers of attorney signed by Durov and which make up the process of registering the brand of the instant messaging application in progress at the National Institute of Industrial Property.
The president of the TSE, Minister Luís Roberto Barroso, sent a letter to Durov, but there was, according to the court, "no record of a response or confirmation of receipt so far." The Federal Public Ministry also did not receive a response.
Translated by Kiratiana Freelon
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