Brazilian users of the instant messaging app can now use it again after a temporary country-wide ban on the service. The restriction was implemented earlier this week after the company failed to provide authorities with the requested data.
Brazil Lifts the Ban
A federal appeals court decided to remove the ban. Judge Flávio Lucas decided that the restriction of the app was unreasonable considering many Brazilian citizens used it as a means of communication. However, the lift of the ban comes with a catch.
Telegram is still required to pay the $200,000 fine every day for not providing the Brazilian authorities with the requested data, which was essential in the investigation of two neo-Nazi groups who use the app to communicate, as mentioned in Engadget.
The group chat on Telegram was allegedly where two school shootings were planned after authorities found it on the phone of a suspected teenager. The incident involved the school shooting in November 2022 that killed three people and injured 13.
Authorities reportedly found Nazi content, violent videos, murder tutorials, and bomb-making instructions on the channel. Federal Marshal Leopoldo Lacerda stated that since Telegram does not cooperate, it makes the platform a "means for heinous crimes."
Judge Wellington Lopes da Silva ordered Google and Apple to remove the app from their stores prior to lifting the suspension, along with instructing mobile carriers to block Telegram's access in the country. He expressed that Telegram had no reason to withhold data after the subpoena.
Judge Lopes da Sila stated that the company only partially complied with the court order addressed to them. Telegram only provided information on the administrator of the "Brazilian Anti-Semitic Movement" channel and not all its users.
It was mentioned in a news conference that the reported antisemitic movement was acting on these networks. They know that this is at the base of violence against children and teenagers in Brazil, according to Brazilian Justice Minister Flavio Dino.
According to The New York Times, the federal police have already made several arrests in the past weeks, with 302 apprehended after being suspected of threatening or planning the school massacres. More than 1,700 cases are still under investigation.
The Incident
The school shooting took place in the southeastern state of Brazil, Espirito Santo. The shooter was a 16-year-old who was a former student in the school and wore a military camouflage outfit with Nazi symbols, reports say.
The shooter fired on two locations, one of which was a public primary and secondary school that he attended, and another was a private school that was on the same street. Both were in a town called Aracruz, which was just 80 kilometers north of Vitoria, the country's state capital.
As reported by Al Jazeera, the teenager first fired on the teachers of the former-mentioned school, which resulted in two deaths and nine injuries. He moved on to private school killing one girl and injuring two people in the process.
The semi-automatic firearms used by the teenager were registered to his father, which was a military police officer. Espirito Santo Governor Renato Casagrande confirmed that the teenager has already been arrested.
