Brazil judge bans messaging app Telegram for ignoring ruling

SAO PAULO (AP) — A justice of Brazil’s top court has ordered the messaging app Telegram to be shut down. Justice Alexandre de Moraes ruled on Friday that the app has failed to cooperate with authorities in a probe on the spread of falsehoods in social media. De Moraes said Telegram has remained silent after police ordered it to block profiles linked to blogger Allan dos Santos, an ally of President Jair Bolsonaro accused of spreading falsehoods. De Moraes issued a warrant for dos Santos’ arrest in October. One of the messaging app’s founders, Pavel Durov, said that Telegram “had an issue with emails going between our telegram.org corporate addresses and the Brazilian Supreme Court.”