The SPD politician is striving for a European solution.
(Photo: dpa)
Berlin Federal Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser is threatening to shut down the chat service provider Telegram, which is often used by lateral thinkers and right-wing extremists. “We cannot rule that out per se either, a shutdown would be very serious and clearly the last resort,” said the SPD politician in a “Zeit” interview published on Wednesday. “All other options must have been unsuccessful beforehand.”
Obviously, previous measures, including a warning letter from the Federal Ministry of Justice, have come to nothing. When asked how such a “shutdown” could be achieved in practice, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry on Wednesday in Berlin was unable to give either technical or legal details.
Many posts on Telegram have right-wing extremist content or contain death threats against politicians, which has so far had no consequences.
The FDP European politician Moritz Körner also sees a need for action, but thinks little of shutting down the platform. “Both national solo efforts and platform banning strategies would not be very promising against hate postings,” said Körner to the Handelsblatt. “Haters would just move on to other platforms.”
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The FDP Federal Vice-President Wolfgang Kubicki sees the security authorities on the train “to investigate more in the appropriate channels in order to be able to intervene immediately in the event of specific threats”. “In other words, when the digital networking creates a concrete danger in reality,” Kubicki told the Handelsblatt.
FDP and Faeser call for a European solution
“I think it is one of the most important points to enforce the law here,” said Faeser. A European solution should be sought. “Today Telegram is in Dubai, tomorrow maybe in the Cayman Islands.”
Accordingly, Germany alone cannot be successful. She is talking to her European colleagues about this. “We always have to see what happens if a service is switched off – and then the next provider comes.”
The FDP is also calling for a European solution in the case of Telegram. “A European approach makes sense in any case. The Internet knows no national borders, ”said Kubicki.
Körner explained: “A European legal framework is needed to be able to prosecute illegal content regardless of platform and across borders.” The Digital Service Act (DSA) currently being negotiated at EU level offers the best basis for this.
Many people around the world use Telegram primarily for 1-to-1 communication in a private or professional context, such as Wire, Signal, Whatsapp, Threema or other messenger services. For some users who have been blocked from YouTube, Twitter, Facebook or other social networks because of extremist content, Telegram is an alternative platform.
Ultimately, the German authorities would only have one drastic means left: to convince Apple and Google not to offer the Telegram app for download anymore. But those who have already installed it could continue to communicate about it.
However, the app can also be downloaded and installed on Android devices outside the Google Play Store, including directly from Telegram itself. Theoretically, network blocks that are more or less effective would also be conceivable. This would, however, follow a similar path as authoritarian states.
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