Indonesia Blocks Telegram Messaging Service Facilitating Terrorism

The Indonesian government has decided to block Telegram application for security reasons as the messaging service with high privacy features has been massively used by members of radical groups for coordinated attacks.

From testimonies of terror suspects in the last few years, Indonesian authorities learned that Telegram has been used by them to communicate with each other, inseminate terrorism ideology among them and even spread the guidance to make bombs.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo said the move to shut down Telegram in Indonesia recommended by the national police took into effect since Saturday.

“Security for the state and people is important. That is why we execute the decision (to block Telegram),” the president said, adding that thousands of contents circulating in Telegram have been found to have potential threats to national security.

Indonesia, through the Communication and Informatics Ministry, failed to get responses from Telegram over their request for cooperation to curb terrorism-linked content in the messaging service, the president added.

Police Chief General Tito Karnavian said they have identified domestic terrorist groups which have been actively using Telegram to facilitate their operations.

He said Telegram becomes a favorite messaging service which highly accommodates their activities as it has sophisticated privacy with encryption feature and enable them to disseminate their radical and terrorism doctrines through its highly secrecy chat room feature.

The Telegram service in Indonesia can be resumed should it allow authorities to thoroughly trace down the trails of Indonesian nationals linked with terror contents in the application.

“It would be reopened should it give us the access,” the Indonesian police chief said on Monday.

Telegram founder, Russian national Pavel Durov, eventually agreed to block the Telegram accounts administering chat groups with radical contents and establish more intensive contacts with Indonesian authorities for an “effective and efficient results.”

Through its high secrecy encrypted messaging system which cannot be accessed by unauthorized party, Telegram enables terrorists to coordinate to each other, making it like their “control and command center.”

Telegram was also found used by perpetrators of the Paris attacks in 2015 and New Year’s Eve attacks in Turkey and St. Petersburg in 2017. (Xinhua)