Copyrights violated

Telegram blockade in Spain following complaints

Consumer advocates in Spain, where there are several million Telegram users, have criticized the measure as disproportionate.(Bild: AFP/APA)

A court in Madrid has ordered the temporary blocking of the short message service Telegram in Spain. The reason was a lawsuit filed by several media companies against Telegram for violating copyright protection regulations, the Madrid court announced on Sunday.

Judge Santiago Pedraz at the National State Court had repeatedly requested administrative assistance from the authorities of the British Virgin Islands in the Caribbean, where Telegram is registered, to no avail. However, the authorities there had not cooperated in clarifying the identity of the owners of Telegram accounts from which copyrighted content had been distributed. The temporary blocking of the entire Telegram service was therefore "necessary, appropriate and proportionate" in the judge's view, the court emphasized.

The newspaper "El País" wrote that Telegram regularly refuses to provide information to authorities. As the service protects the identity of its users more than its larger competitor WhatsApp, for example, it is preferred by opponents of the regime in countries such as Russia or Iran. However, there are also channels with criminal or extremist content on Telegram.

In addition to the protection of copyrights, the ordered blockade is primarily about a conflict between the judge of a constitutional state and a private company and about the trade-off between anonymity and impunity on the internet.

According to the competition authority CNMC, Telegram is the fourth most used short message service in Spain. According to the company, it had more than 700 million monthly active users worldwide in 2023.