Messenger app
Because of hatred and agitation: Federal government targets “Telegram”
The logo of the messenger app Telegram can be seen on the screen of a smartphone
© Fabian Sommer / DPA
The messenger app “Telegram” also enables chat groups with thousands of participants and is therefore popular with lateral thinkers and extremists. Now the Ministry of Justice is taking an attempt to control the app more closely.
In contrast to other messengers and chat programs, Telegram also enables group discussions with several thousand users. This is the main reason why Telegram is so popular with lateral thinkers and right-wing extremists. The federal government is now examining how it can counter the spread of hatred and agitation via the messenger service. A spokeswoman for the Ministry of Justice said on Monday in Berlin that “a Europe-wide uniform legal framework” is also being sought when dealing with Telegram.
“Telegram is being used increasingly in all phenomena areas observed by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution,” said the Federal Office based in Cologne on request. “Supporters of the constitutional protection-relevant corona denier scene in particular use the platform to spread their own agenda and to mobilize for demonstrations and events.”
“Telegram hardly intervenes administratively”
Telegram also enables “the uncomplicated sharing of criminally relevant videos, images and audio files, hardly intervenes administratively in content and thus offers the possibility of influencing other people”, says the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution.
Thuringia’s Interior Minister Georg Maier (SPD) sees an increasing propensity for violence in the protests against the state anti-corona measures. This is one of the reasons why he is in favor of restrictions on Telegram. “Telegram has long ceased to be a pure messenger service, it has become a social platform. There, demonstrations are advertised, violence is also called for there, addresses are published by politicians. So, action must be taken here.” But he raised concerns: “It’s just difficult because Telegram is not a German company. It is very difficult to get to those responsible.” Telegram is based in Dubai.
Alternative platform for extremists
Many people around the world use Telegram primarily for 1-to-1 communication in a private or professional context, such as Wire, Signal, Whatsapp or other messenger services. For some users who have been blocked from YouTube or other social networks because of extremist content, however, Telegram is an alternative platform. One example is the Austrian Martin Sellner from the Identitarian Movement. His Telegram channel has more than 62,000 subscribers.
Martina Renner from the Left Party, with whom Maier governs in Thuringia, is fundamentally against the state intervening in the citizens’ means of communication. The member of the Bundestag believes that the federal government must also push for the enforcement of the law applicable in Germany at the diplomatic level. Ultimately, however, the following applies: “Bans and regulation cannot replace the necessary political debate.”
AfD is strictly against any regulation
The AfD, whose members and supporters diligently use Telegram, is strictly against any regulation. “The network enforcement law should be abolished,” says Joana Cotar, digitization expert in the AfD parliamentary group. It is correct that Telegram withdraws from this. After all, everyone is free to take action directly against the person who has distributed allegedly criminal content via the messenger service.
Like Minister Maier, the Federal Office of Justice is now of the opinion that Telegram is not just a messenger service, but a social network. As a result, the Network Enforcement Act applies to Telegram – just as it does to Facebook and Twitter. This requires, among other things, that criminal content is quickly blocked or deleted.
“No agreements with any governments”
The law also obliges providers to set up an easily accessible reporting channel for criminal content and to appoint an authorized recipient for requests from German courts. Since both of these have not yet existed, two fine proceedings have been running against Telegram since May. However, the company has not reacted so far and is therefore staying true to the line that its founder and managing director Pavel Durov has been following for years. When asked about a dispute with the Iranian government, he wrote on Twitter in 2015 that Telegram had not yet reached any agreements with any governments and did not plan to do so in the future.
In the end, there would theoretically only be one drastic means left: to convince Apple and Google not to offer the Telegram app for download anymore. Those who have already installed it could, however, continue to communicate about it.
“Telegram was popular with the extreme right early on,” says political scientist Josef Holnburger from the Center for Monitoring, Analysis and Strategy (CeMAS), which observes radicalization tendencies on social media. In 2018, the Identitarian Movement chose Telegram as the new platform after important profiles for the movement were deleted on Instagram and Facebook. According to Holnburger, Telegram wanted to be more decentralized and founded dozen regional groups. Since this year, he has added that the US right is looking for a new platform after having had very bad experiences with Gab and Parler.