Encrypted chat app Telegram may be forced to leave Brazil after a court ruled to ban the app in the country. After a mass shooting at a school, the authorities wanted to access data from the groups that the teenage perpetrator was a part of on Telegram.
However, Telegram founder Pavel Durov claims it is “technologically impossible” and says it is better to leave a country than “betray users and the principles the company was founded on.” Durov pointed out that Telegram has already left Iran, China and its native Russia for similar reasons.
The court has ordered internet service providers in the country to block the app, and demanded that Apple and Google remove Telegram from their app stores. According to 9to5mac yesterday it would still have been available to download from the App Store and Google Play.
This is not the first time a court has banned Telegram in Brazil. The app was also banned in March 2022, then for not having followed the country’s laws on “fake news” and dangerous content. The app was then down for 48 hours before they cooperated with the authorities.
