extremism
BKA: Telegram rarely deletes right-wing extremist content
The logo of the messenger app Telegram can be seen on the screen of a smartphone. Photo: Fabian Sommer/dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
Telegram is increasingly popular with users blocked for extremist content on Facebook or Twitter. According to the BKA, deleting the criminal content is difficult.
The Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) sees considerable deficits in the deletion of right-wing extremist content through Telegram.
The messenger service, which is also increasingly being used as a platform, “according to experience, for the most part does not respond to suggestions for the deletion of right-wing extremist content,” said the BKA on Monday on request. “There is no evidence that Telegram intervenes to regulate and independently block such groups or channels.”
Telegram deals differently with propaganda by Islamist-terrorist groups. If corresponding content is reported to Telegram via an application provided by Europol, the company regularly complies with the deletion suggestions. In particular, Telegram also deletes content of the terrorist militia Islamic State (IS) and the terrorist organization Al-Qaeda on its own initiative.
BKA seeks cooperation
The aim of the BKA, in cooperation with the federal and state police authorities, is to achieve cooperation with Telegram in order to “intensify the existing approaches – for example with regard to deletion requests”, the authority further announced. The “world” first reported on the efforts of the BKA.
The prosecution of criminal offenses on Telegram is fundamentally difficult because Telegram is “not interested in cooperation with security authorities”, the authority said. Without the release of user data to identify suspects, criminal prosecution is fundamentally difficult.
Many people around the world use Telegram primarily for 1-to-1 communication in a private or professional context, such as Wire, Signal, Whatsapp, Threema or other messenger services. However, Telegram is an alternative platform for some users who have been blocked from YouTube, Twitter, Facebook or other social networks because of extremist content.