Why blocking Telegram in Spain is both disproportionate and futile

Media reports from Spain and also Reuters say that Santiago Pedraz, a judge at the country’s High Court, has ordered the temporary suspension of the instant messaging service Telgram. The measure, which is due to come into effect on Monday, follows copyright infringement complaints filed by Spanish media companies (Mediaset España and Atresmedia), EGEDA, the collecting society that represents and defends the interests of audiovisual producers in Spain, and by the pay-TV platform Movistar Plus.

Telegram is accused of failing to remove a number of channels where copyrighted audiovisual materials is shared.

This is far from the first occasion Spain’s media has exposed its inability to understand the internet over the last two decades: this time calling for the suspension of an entire instant messaging platform used by 40% of Spaniards, because some people use it to share content; a move equivalent to locking down an entire city because some illegal activity is taking place there. Telegram is used, for example, by Catalonia’s firefighters, who rely heavily on the application at the operational level.

In addition to the flagrant disproportionality of the measure, we should remember that Telegram still continues to operate in many countries where it is banned. It is used by millions of…