Telegram has been gaining more and more users for months and is competing with WhatsApp, for example. According to the security authorities, the channels in Messenger are mainly used by right-wing extremists and lateral thinkers to spread their ideas. Now the new Federal Ministry of the Interior Nancy Faeser (SPD) wants to take action against it, since previous measures would have led to nothing.
Telegram: These are the plans
Nancy Faeser threatens Telegram to shutdown if the chat service continues to disregard German laws. “We cannot rule that out per se,” explains the minister of the weekly newspaper Die Zeit. However, a shutdown would be “serious and clearly the ultima ratio”. She explains that all other options must have been unsuccessful beforehand.
How exactly the shutdown of Telegram could be technically and legally possible, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry could not answer on Wednesday.
Nancy Faeser is striving for a European solution and has the following to consider: “Today Telegram is in Dubai, tomorrow maybe in the Cayman Islands. We will need a lot of strength to enforce the law. As a German nation-state we cannot do it alone. ”She is in talks with European counterparts (via FAZ).
Shutdown last consequence
If Telegram does not cooperate, the German authorities could convince Google and Apple to stop offering the application for download in their app stores. Only those who have already installed Telegram could still have access. However, the app can also be downloaded outside of the stores – for example via the official website.
In theory, network blocking would also be possible. However, authoritarian states such as China are taking action. For example, Facebook and WhatsApp are prohibited there and can be used in the country (not even by visitors).
Do you use the blue messenger? There are several reasons to delete Telegram. According to an expert, Signal is the most secure messenger and “the best we have”.
Source: Die Zeit, FAZ, Chip