Indonesia: Ban on messaging service Telegram to be lifted
Indonesia and encrypted messaging service Telegram have agreed to establish better procedures to stamp out distribution of terrorist propaganda on the platform, the app’s founder and the communications minister said on Tuesday.
Indonesia, home to the world’s largest Muslim population, has seen a resurgence in home-grown radicalism, and worries about the growing influence of extremist group Islamic State.
Telegram is a messaging platform believed to be popular with Islamic State sympathizers, who use chatrooms with hundreds of members, besides holding private conversations.
Indonesian authorities blocked access to some Telegram channels last month, saying it had several forums that were “full of radical and terrorist propaganda”.
“We have discussed ways to block publicly available propaganda of terrorism on Telegram, which is something we have committed to do globally, and particularly in Indonesia,” app founder Pavel Durov told a joint news conference with the minister.
Durov said the two had agreed to set up better lines of communication, because Telegram was not aware of email requests from the ministry to take down some channels.
It could take about 24 to 36 hours for the app to shut down public channels with terrorism content, but a direct communication line to Indonesian authorities would allow it to “shut them down …read more
