A judge at Spain's National Audience, Santiago Pedraz, has backed down on a decision made last Friday to block the use of the messaging application Telegram in the Spanish state, in a case arising from alleged copyright infringements. After a weekend in which Spanish users of the app were on alert to the chance that it might disappear from their screens at any moment, the judge has reconsidered this Monday: he has agreed to definitively suspend the interim blockage of the application, and has requested a report from the Spanish National Police's general information commission on the platform, as well as on the impact that his proposed temporary suspension might have on users. The judge has issued a resolution nullifying the temporary suspension of resources linked with Telegram, because he now admits that it would be "an excessive and disproportionate measure".
In his resolution this Monday, Pedraz explains that, due to the realization that thousands of users might be affected by a temporary suspension, consideration has been given to whether the measure is proportional. According to the judge, apart from being used for criminal activities, "there are many users of all kinds (individuals, companies, officials, workers in general...) who have chosen to use Telegram, because it provides them with benefits that others platforms don't give". So, he concludes that the suspension would be a clear detriment to the several million users who use this messaging application in Spain.
Decision to block Telegram in Spain
Last Friday, judge Pedraz agreed to block the use of Telegram following a complaint filed by three major Spanish audiovisual providers, Mediaset, Atresmedia and Movistar Plus for alleged unauthorized use of audiovisual content subject to copyright. On Saturday, the judge gave three hours' notice to Spanish internet operators to suspend the resources associated with the application. However, according to Europa Press, the judge did not execute this request. The blocking measure was considered by the judge as "necessary, appropriate and proportionate" and there was no alternative that could stop the repetition of the events reported, since the authorities of the Virgin Islands - where Telegram's headquarters are located - have not cooperated with the international "letters rogatory" judicial request sent to them to require Telegram to report certain technical data allowing the identification of the account holders associated with the copyright infringement.
The judge's resolution argued that for the proper functioning of the investigation, the information from the Virgin Islands request was required, since numerous investigation issues depend on the information to be obtained by the international judicial request. The repeated failure to comply with the request to the Virgin Islands of July 28th, 2023 suggested that it would be impossible to continue the investigation into the case. The judge pointed out that the lack of cooperation from the authorities, who were only asked to communicate with those responsible for the messaging network, led to the need to adopt the interim injunction requested by the private prosecutions in the case.
The judicial decision has been criticized from various professional and political areas, from the Spanish Council of IT Engineers to the consumer organization Facua, as well as political parties of opposing signs - Vox and Podemos - and experts in the digital sector.