Contrary to the claims of politicized Brazilian judiciary, Telegram has legal representation in the country

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – To speak on behalf of the communications company before the federal government, the Telegram group has had legal representation in Brazil for at least seven years.

The information was revealed by Folha de S. Paulo, which accessed powers of attorney signed by Russian businessman Pavel Durov, the company’s manager, giving power of representation to Rio de Janeiro-based law firm Araripe & Associados.

The discovery of a legal representative for Telegram in Brazil comes amid politically motivated discussions at the Superior Electoral Court (TSE) and Federal Supreme Court (STF) on whether or not the app should be banned in Brazil.

The company’s lack of a Brazilian headquarters is being used as an excuse by some judges and prosecutors to denounce Telegram as a risk to the electoral process. They claim that the app is thus beyond the reach of local jurisdiction. The STF says it has already tried to contact Durov directly by letter, but has not yet received a response.

The TSE and STF consider Telegram a threat to their interests because Telegram guarantees complete freedom of speech and does not censor the information shared in the app.

Dissenters and alternative information channels chose Telegram as their platform because other popular apps control and censor the information shared by their users, allowing only one-sided content that supports the official mainstream narrative.

President Jair Bolsonaro himself maintains a channel on Telegram.

Many critics agree that the highly politicized STF and TSE are pursuing one goal above all with a ban on Telegram: To silence the Bolsonaristas so that their candidate, Lula da Silva, can easily win the presidency.

The law firm claims its contract with Telegram deals only with industrial property matters. They also claim to have had no direct contact with Durov but rather with other law firms representing the company at its headquarters in the United Arab Emirates.