April 28, 2024

Telegram Says It Will Shut Down 'Terrorist-Related' Public Channels After Getting Banned in Indonesia

Posted July 17, 2017 at 2:55pm by iClarified · 7555 views
Telegram says it will shut down 'terrorist-related' public channels after being banned in Indonesia over security concerns, reports Reuters.

Indonesia, which is home to world's largest population of Muslims, has seen a resurgence in radicalism and is taking steps to stem a growing presence of the Islamic State. On Friday, Indonesian authorities blocked access to Telegram, noting that the app had several forums that were "full of radical and terrorist propaganda".

Pavel Durov, founder of the app, claimed that there had been a miscommunication with authorities and he was no aware of a request to take down certain channels. "Telegram is heavily encrypted and privacy-oriented, but we're no friends of terrorists," Durov said.

On Saturday, Communications Minister Rudiantara told Reuters that Telegram had not processed the government's requests to take down "radical" content quickly enough. "We are trying to support their business but we also need their cooperation in addressing our concerns i.e. in addressing negative content," he said.

Telegram says it has now taken steps to block channels reported by the Indonesian government containing terrorism related content.

More details in the full report linked below...

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