MEXICO CITY (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 26th January, 2023) The Supreme Federal Court of Brazil has fined the Telegram messenger 1.2 million Brazilian reals ($240,000) for failure to comply with a court order to block one of the channels previously found to be spreading inaccurate information, local media reported on Wednesday.
Following protests held by supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro after his defeat in the election to Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Moraes on January 11 ordered that a number of telegram accounts belonging to politicians be blocked "to stop spreading hate speech, undermining order, and calling for the disruption of the institutional and democratic order by spreading false and misleading news and facts."
According to the Valor Economico newspaper, Brazil's Federal Supreme Court Judge, Alexandre de Moraes, has fined the messenger for not complying with the court's decision to block the account of elected representative Nikolas Ferreira.
Telegram informed the court that it had complied with a part of its ruling but asked the court to reconsider the decision regarding Ferreira's channel. The court ruled that Telegram questioned "the authority of a court decision made as part of a criminal investigation," according to the report.
On January 8, Bolsonaro's supporters stormed the National Congress building as well as Palacio do Planalto, one of the official palaces of the Presidency, and the Supreme Court building in Brasilia, protesting against the 2022 Brazilian presidential election results. Police managed to regain control of the vandalized buildings by the evening of the same day. Brazil's federal police said that over 1,840 participants in the anti-government protests had been detained.
