MESSAGE APP TO ACT ON TERRORIST CONTENT
▶ Telegram founder says groups have been removed after Indonesia threatened to ban platform
Telegram, the encrypted messaging app, is forming a team of moderators familiar with Indonesian culture and language to remove “terrorist-related content” more quickly.
The move comes after Indonesia limited access to the app and threatened a total ban.
Russian entrepreneur Pavel Durov, who co-founded the app in 2013 with his brother Nikolai, said on Telegram that he did not know he had been too slow to respond to an Indonesian government request to block offending chat groups but was rectifying the situation.
The ministry of communications and information technology said on Friday it was preparing to close Telegram in Indonesia, where it has several million users, if the company did not develop procedures to block unlawful content.
As a partial measure, it asked internet companies to block access to 11 addresses offering the web version of Telegram.
Samuel Pangerapan, a director general at the ministry, said the app was used to recruit Indonesians into militant groups and to spread hate and methods for carrying out attacks, including bomb making.
Mr Durov said Telegram had blocked the channels that were reported by the Indonesian government.
“Telegram is heavily encrypted and privacy oriented, but we’re no friends of terrorists,” he said on his Telegram group.
Mr Durov said he had been upset at Indonesia’s ban.
The country has stepped up cooperation with its neighbours to stem the growing presence of ISIL in South-East Asia after the capture of the southern Philippine city of Marawi by militants.
Nearly two months after the initial assault, Philippine forces are still battling to regain control of the city.
Experts fear the southern Philippines could become a new base for ISIL, including Indonesian and Malaysian militants returning from the Middle East, as an international coalition retakes territory held by the extremist group in Syria and Iraq.
Indonesian president Joko Widodo said yesterday that other social media platforms would not be affected by the government’s decision on Telegram.
But the move sparked a public outcry in Indonesia. Twitter and Facebook were full of negative comments and some people reported that they were unable to access Telegram.
Indonesians are among the world’s biggest users of social media.
The free messaging service can be used as a smartphone app and on computers through a web interface or desktop messenger.
Its strong encryption has contributed to its popularity with those concerned about privacy and security, but also attracted militant groups and other criminal elements.
Telegram, which blocks thousands of ISIL-related channels a month, was “always open to ideas on how to get better at this”, Mr Durov said.
On Saturday, Indonesian communications minister Rudiantara said 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 co-operation in addressing our concerns – that is, in addressing negative content,” Mr Rudiantara said.