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dpa
Berlin
Telegram, the instant messaging service increasingly finding use as an online platform, is slow to delete content from right-wing extremists, Germany’s federal police (BKA) reported on Monday.
Telegram, which has its legal base in London but operates largely from Dubai, “largely does not comply with requests to delete right-wing extremist content,” the BKA said.
“It does not appear to be the case that Telegram intervenes and blocks groups or channels of this kind of its own accord,” the BKA said in response to a dpa query following a report in the German newspaper Welt.
The BKA noted that Telegram usually complied with requests to delete propaganda from Islamist terrorist groups, and that it deleted of its own accord content from Islamic State and al-Qaeda - both classified as terrorist groups by the United Nations.
The BKA said it aimed to reach an agreement with Telegram, in cooperation with local German police forces, to “intensify already existing approaches, such as those with respect to delete requests.”
Prosecuting crimes perpetrated through the service remained problematic, as Telegram “is not interested in cooperating with security agencies,” the BKA said, noting that failure to provide user data to identify suspects rendered prosecution difficult.
Certain users blocked from services such as YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and others on account of the extremist content of their postings, have turned to Telegram as an alternative.
Berlin
Telegram, the instant messaging service increasingly finding use as an online platform, is slow to delete content from right-wing extremists, Germany’s federal police (BKA) reported on Monday.
Telegram, which has its legal base in London but operates largely from Dubai, “largely does not comply with requests to delete right-wing extremist content,” the BKA said.
“It does not appear to be the case that Telegram intervenes and blocks groups or channels of this kind of its own accord,” the BKA said in response to a dpa query following a report in the German newspaper Welt.
The BKA noted that Telegram usually complied with requests to delete propaganda from Islamist terrorist groups, and that it deleted of its own accord content from Islamic State and al-Qaeda - both classified as terrorist groups by the United Nations.
The BKA said it aimed to reach an agreement with Telegram, in cooperation with local German police forces, to “intensify already existing approaches, such as those with respect to delete requests.”
Prosecuting crimes perpetrated through the service remained problematic, as Telegram “is not interested in cooperating with security agencies,” the BKA said, noting that failure to provide user data to identify suspects rendered prosecution difficult.
Certain users blocked from services such as YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and others on account of the extremist content of their postings, have turned to Telegram as an alternative.
