​​Brazil electoral court could ban Telegram app for not fighting fake news

Brazil’s top electoral authority, the TSE, is pondering a ban on the messaging app Telegram during the run-up to the next elections because it has not responded to requests to help combat the spread of misinformation. Luis Roberto Barroso, head of the TSE electoral court, explained that the TSE has already entered into partnerships with almost all the main social media platforms operating in the country to combat misinformation about the legitimacy of Brazil’s electoral system. However, Telegram has not yet responded. Telegram’s development team is based in Dubai and has no representative office in Brazil, where it represents  the second-most popular messaging service. Current President Jair Bolsonaro has 1 million subscribers on Telegram, where many of his supporters resorted after other platforms, such as WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram, removed some of his postings. Barroso said that since mid-December he has sought to meet with Telegram executive director and founder Pavel Durov to discuss ways to combat the spread of false information before the upcoming election and warned that it will discuss measures to be taken in early February given the lack of response.