unsaveSave
expand-left
full screen The social media platform Telegram has been ordered shut down in Spain. Archive image. Photo: Silas Stein/AP/TT
A Spanish judge has ordered the social media platform Telegram to be temporarily halted across the country. The decision follows complaints from leading media companies alleging that Telegram has illegally used material protected by copyright.
The court decision came on Friday, but Telegram was still available in Spain on Saturday.
Consumer watchdog Facua opposed the ruling, saying it “causes enormous harm” to millions of Telegram users.
Judge Santiago Pedraz chose to make the shutdown decision after Telegram, which is a registered company in the Virgin Islands, failed to respond to a request from the court in the summer of 2023. The question concerned who or who were behind certain accounts.
Behind the demand for shutdown are the companies Mediaset, Atresmedia, Movistar and Egeda.