MADRID, Spain: In a ruling criticised by a consumer group, a Spanish court has ordered the online messaging service Telegram suspended in a case brought by broadcasters over alleged violation of intellectual property.
Judge Santiago Pedraz of the Audencia Nacional, a senior court that handles sensitive cases, ordered a “temporary suspension” of Telegram’s resources.
The order was issued on Friday but at midday Saturday, the messaging app was still up and running in the country.
Facua, the consumer rights group, criticised the court decision as disproportionate, warning it would cause “enormous damage” to millions of users of the encrypted messaging platform.
Ruben Sanchez, Facua’s general secretary in a statement said that it was if they shut down the internet because there are websites that illegally host content protected by copyright.
The consumer rights group named the media groups involved in the case as Atresmedia, Movistar, Mediaset and Egeda.
Telegram is an encrypted messaging platform that allows users to set up their own channels and broadcast content.
The judge issued the order after authorities in the Virgin Islands, where Telegram is registered as a business, did not respond to a court request for information in July 2023.
Media companies complained that their content was being used on Telegram without their consent.
The court wanted information that could determine who was behind the accounts in question.
In Friday’s order, the judge said the Virgin Islands’ lack of cooperation prompted him to take the “precautionary measure.”
He further said that the order is in accordance with the principles of “necessity, appropriateness and proportionality”.
