Sheer weight of numbers makes it difficult for Telegram not to telegraph its punches
It is no secret that encrypted messaging application Telegram has been the “app of choice” for ISIL and other terrorist groups for years.
That the app has continued to provide a secure platform for terrorists to co-ordinate their savage activities with impunity calls into question why Telegram has not done more to stop the proliferation of terrorist activities on its channels.
Founder and chief executive of Telegram, Pavel Durov, has so far refused to share user data with regulators, citing Telegram’s confidentiality policy and users’ privacy.
Yesterday, Mr Durov said his company was removing public channels in Indonesia that provided “terrorist-related content” after threats by Jakarta to completely shut down the messaging platform.
“There are many channels on their service that contain radicalism propaganda, terrorism, hatred, provocation and instructions to assemble bombs and other contents that are against the Indonesia law,” the communications ministry said on Friday.
It asked internet service providers to block access to several Telegram channels.
Indonesia has been battling a resurgence of radicalisation on the home front, especially after ISIL sympathisers carried out several low-level attacks in the past 18 months.
“Telegram has become the main social media platform for ISIL members and followers primarily because, so far, Telegram administrators do not usually shut down ISIL accounts, and when they do, the frequency is far less when compared to other social media accounts,” the International Centre for the Study of Violent Extremism in Washington said.
The centre said in a May report that even though ISIL used different platforms to distribute its propaganda posts, the most reliable medium for their purposes has been Telegram.
Bahrun Naim, a top Indonesian ISIL militant fighting with the extremist group in Syria, has been reaching out to aspiring terrorists in his home country through apps such as Telegram.
The Long War Journal website, run by the Washington think tank Foundation for Defence of Democracies, said Naim had been giving bomb-making advice to aspiring terrorists in his country, and using Telegram to help them select targets for attack.
Militants arrested in Indonesia have also told authorities they used Telegram to communicate with one another and received orders, including from Naim, through the app to carry out attacks.
Mr Durov says that his company blocks thousands of ISIL-related channels a month.
But with 100 million active users every month, 350,000 new users every day and 15 billion messages daily, the task of removing every terror-related account appears insurmountable – at least for now.