The judge of the Audiencia Nacional, Santiago Pedraz, has suspended the previously imposed block on the messaging app Telegram. This decision was taken pending a report from the Comisaría General de Información on the possible impact of this measure on users.
The messaging app is used by 8.5 million people in Spain. On Friday, Judge Pedraz decided to temporarily block Telegram, after a complaint from Mediaset, Atresmedia and Movistar Plus. They accused the app of unauthorised use of copyrighted audiovisual material.
Request for information
A day after the decision, on Saturday, the judge gave Spanish telecom operators three hours to block the app. However, legal sources report that this demand has not been implemented and the requested report is pending.
Consideration of the measure
Judge Pedraz considered the blockade to be a necessary, appropriate and proportionate measure. That’s because he saw no alternative that could stop the recurrence of the reported incidents. Moreover, the lack of cooperation from the Virgin Islands authorities was the main reason for this. They refused to provide the information necessary to identify the owners of the accounts that infringed intellectual property rights.
Legal experts and cybersecurity specialists criticise this judge’s decision. They think it goes too far because it affects all 8.5 million Telegram users in Spain. It doesn’t matter whether they use the app legally or illegally for downloading files.