Indonesia: Telegram Now Cooperating on Terrorism-Related Content

The Indonesian government has been asking Telegram to remove terrorism-related content from its encrypted chat groups since March 2016 but got a response only after it began to block access to the platform, officials said Monday.

Telegram has now apologized and begun responding to some of its requests, according to a statement released by the Ministry of Communications and Informatics on Monday.

“I have received an email regarding an apology from Pavel Durov, the CEO of Telegram,” Minister of Communications and Informatics Rudiantara said in the statement.

“It appears he was not aware there were several requests from the ministry, since 2016,” he said.

“Durov has already taken steps requested by the ministry and proposed dedicated communications for the handling of negative content, specifically radicalism/terrorism,” he said.

“I appreciate the response from Pavel Durov, and the ministry is going to follow up as quickly as possible on the technical details so that a standard operating procedure can soon be implemented.”

The government will restore access to web-based Telegram messaging – which it blocked on Friday – if Telegram meets several conditions, Semuel A. Pangerapan, a director general of the ministry, told a news conference in Jakarta on Monday.

These include opening an office in Indonesia; making the ministry a “trusted flagger” of Telegram accounts or channels containing terrorist propaganda; and involving the ministry in content-filtering efforts.

“When all the conditions we have requested are met by Telegram, then we will unblock it,” Indonesian media outlet Kompas quoted him as saying.

The ministry on Friday announced that it had requested Internet service providers to block 11 domain names used by Telegram after collecting evidence that many channels on the messaging app had been promoting extremist ideologies.

Full story: BenarNews

Ismira Lutfia Tisnadibrata
Jakarta