Telegram will not be suspended: The National Court backs down, at least for now

Judge Santiago Pedraz The National Court backed down and overturned the suspension order Telegram in Spain, at least for now. The magistrate decided to seek a report from the Information Commissioner General before blocking the popular messaging platform.

The judge wants this report to “explain the exact characteristics of Telegram, as well as the impact that the temporary suspension may have on users.” Thus, a decision that would set a difficult precedent regarding freedom of access to information, communications, freedom of expression and copyright blocking restrictions is suspended – at least for now.

Last Friday, March 22, the National Court ordered the blocking of Telegram following a complaint filed by Mediaset España, Antena 3, Movistar Plus and EGEDA, the rights management organization for audiovisual producers. The order came from Judge Santiago Pedraza after no response was received from those responsible for the platform.

Communication groups Telegram sued for copyright infringement. They accuse the platform of providing protected content in its groups and channels. As a precautionary measure, the National Court decided to block it, but at the beginning of the week, none of the operators received the order.

Telegram blocking opens doors to the village

Possible blocking Telegram This is another of hundreds of examples of opening doors to the countryside that have occurred over the past 15 years in Spain. This is equivalent to closing all post offices because some people were found to be exchanging packages containing copyrighted content.

While it is likely that channels and groups have been created on Telegram where copyrighted content or links to content with these characteristics are posted, a total and complete blocking of the platform ultimately affects thousands and potentially millions of people in Spain. . Especially to all those who have never committed such violations.

It is unknown whether Telegram responded to the demands of the National Courtor whether the report will be enough to prevent Judge Pedraz from blocking the platform on Spanish territory. But for now we still have domestic access.

Finally, a few hours later, the National Court, having received a report from the General Information Commissioner, decided not to permanently block Telegram in Spain.

What is Telegram and why is it so popular?

Telegram is an instant messaging app that has established itself as one of the most popular platforms due to its features and cross-platform access. It was founded in 2013 by Pavel Durov and his brother Nikolai, who also created the social network. VCalso known as Facebook Russia.

One of the main reasons for Telegram’s popularity is the ability to share your contact without having to provide a phone number. Ability to create groups with up to 200,000 participants. It is a reliable option for distributing content to a mass audience without limiting the number of subscribers, making it quite a powerful tool for communities and content creators. WhatsApp recently activated its own broadcast channels.

Telegram also has the ability to create secret chats with end-to-end encryption. This means that only the sender and recipient can read messages that are protected from external interference. Although it is true, chats do not have this option by default and are saved in the cloud.

But part of Telegram’s versatility lies precisely in the latter. Everything is saved in the cloud, including chats, documents, photos and videos. This ensures that even if you lose your device, your data is not lost. You just need to do log in from another smartphone or computer.

Telegram also allows you to use a number of important automation tools through bots that help you moderate popular channels with many participants, create games, or automate repetitive tasks.