Internet Shutdowns

On 17th March 2022, Brazil’s Federal Supreme Court reportedly ordered the blocking of Telegram over disinformation concerns. The block was reportedly lifted a few days later, by 21st March 2022.

OONI data collected from Brazil appears to corroborate these reports, presenting some anomalies when Telegram was tested between these dates.

Chart: OONI Probe testing of Telegram in Brazil between 17th to 21st March 2022 (source: OONI MAT).

However, it’s worth highlighting that the largest volume of measurements showed that Telegram was reachable when tested in Brazil, suggesting that access to the app may have only been blocked on a few networks. 

When viewing OONI measurement coverage based on a per-ASN breakdown, it is evident that only a few ISPs in the country appear to have blocked Telegram. The following chart shares the ASNs where Telegram testing presented the largest volume of anomalies (and signs of potential blocking).

Chart: Networks in Brazil where the OONI Probe testing of Telegram presented the largest volume of anomalies between 17th to 21st March 2022 (source: OONI MAT).

From the above chart, we can see that the testing of Telegram mainly presented anomalies on 19th and 20th March 2022 on several networks, including Varzea (AS263544), V1 (AS264429), and Javas Telecom (AS271189). While the presence of anomalies coincides with the timing of the reported block, the limited anomalous measurement volume (along with the large volume of successful measurements) limits our ability to confirm Telegram blocking with confidence.