C. Urrutia MADRID

MADRID

Updated Sunday, March 24, 2024-1:54 p.m.

The telecommunications operators that must execute the order of the National Court to close Telegram as a precautionary measure have not yet received the judge's communication. The order of the Central Court of Instruction Number 5 of Madrid published last Friday gives three hours to the operators

"from receipt of the judicial communication"

to temporarily suspend all resources associated with the instant messaging application Telegram.

Since they have not formally received the judicial communication, the social network can continue to function normally. The closure has been ordered by Judge

Santiago Pedraz

on a precautionary basis following a complaint filed by Mediaset, Atresmedia and Movistar Plus for alleged unauthorized use of audiovisual content subject to copyright that would be published in the application.

The three audiovisual groups and the audiovisual producers society EGEDA denounced Telegram months ago

for

uploading their content without permission. In his order, the magistrate

also agrees to extend the investigation for six months

, until September 29.

The head of the Central Court of Instruction Number 5 made the decision to suspend Telegram after

not receiving a response from the

instant and encrypted messaging application, launched in 2013, which, according to the judge and the plaintiffs, has refused to provide Pedraz with the information. that had been requested. Thus, the judge gave an order late this Friday to telecommunications operators to temporarily block the Telegram connection in Spain.


Sector sources indicate that the

order could be formally communicated tomorrow, Monday

. It would be from that moment on that operators would have to comply with the court order within three hours. The effectiveness of this execution in preventing the millions of Telegram users from having access to the application cut off is more than doubtful since there are

technological tools such as proxies

that allow access to websites or apps that are blocked in a country but not in others.

This circumstance, added to the fact that the principle of the large global technology platforms is not to submit to any regulation, makes the execution of the order more than complicated. This time it applies to a messaging application such as Telegram, but among the precedents of the current closure order is the one communicated in 2014 by the Superior Court of Justice of Madrid regarding

Uber

.

On that occasion, the judge prohibited the provision of passenger transportation services through the app or website for the Uber Pop product. In addition,

he ordered payment methods such as 4B, Visa, Servired, Diners Club

... to suspend all card entry or payment operations with Uber and simultaneously

instructed telecommunications operators to suspend the transmission

and hosting of data or the provision of any service to the American company. Despite the company's refusal to submit to the judge's mandate and a campaign to discredit his decision and the regulation, the precautionary measures ended up having an effect on the company, which modified its service offering.