Messenger app Telegram has become the main platform for German right-wing extremists, and the administrators remove only one in 10 reported messages, Germany's Jugendschutz.net has agency found
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 10th July, 2020) Messenger app Telegram has become the main platform for German right-wing extremists, and the administrators remove only one in 10 reported messages, Germany's Jugendschutz.net has agency found.
Jugendschutz.net (protection of minors) is an expert center for the German Federal government and regional authorities that studies how internet companies counteract illegal content that could harm minors.
According to the report titled Telegram: Between Propaganda of Violence and "Info-war," after processing 200 complaints of illegal and extremist content, the platform removed only 11 percent of such messages. Messages containing calls for violence, racist statements and Holocaust denial remained available online. Also, videos of deadly shooting attacks in Germany's Halle and New Zealand's Christchurch could still be found in open access on the platform.
"Telegram has become an important hub that brings together right-wing extremists of various spectra," the report reads. Researchers say that Telegram does not take an active approach to weed out such messages, which strengthens the international network of right-wing extremists.
Telegram has had a fractious relationship with the Russian authorities as well. Communications watchdog Roskomnadzor officially blocked the service in April 2018 over founder Pavel Durov's refusal to hand over encryption keys to the security services.
The block has had little effect, as many users in Russia continue to access the app. The ban was eventually lifted in June of this year.
