Indonesia and that region of the world is a YUGE messenger 'market'. http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/national-politics/article161639003.html
Rr > JAKARTA, Indonesia > > The encrypted messaging app Telegram is forming a team of moderators > who are familiar with Indonesian culture and language so it can remove > "terrorist-related content" faster, its co-founder said Sunday, after > Indonesia limited access to the app and threatened a total ban. > > Pavel Durov, who with his brother Nikolai founded the app in 2013, > said in a message to his 40,000 followers on Telegram that he'd been > unaware of a failure to quickly respond to an Indonesian government > request to block a number of offending channels — chat groups on the > app — but was now rectifying the situation. > > The Ministry of Communications and Information Technology said Friday > that it was preparing for the total closure of Telegram in Indonesia, > where it has several million users, if it didn't develop procedures to > block unlawful content. As a partial measure, it asked internet > companies in the world's most populous Muslim nation to block access > to 11 addresses offering the web version of Telegram. > > Samuel Pangerapan, the director general of informatics applications at > the ministry, said the app is used to recruit Indonesians into > militant groups and to spread hate and methods for carrying out > attacks including bomb making. > > Suspected militants arrested by Indonesian police recently have told > authorities that they communicated with each other via Telegram and > received orders and directions to carry out attacks through the app, > including from Bahrun Naim, an Indonesian with the Islamic State group > in Syria accused of orchestrating several attacks in the past 18 months. > > Durov said Telegram has now blocked the channels that were reported to > it by the Indonesian government. > > "We are forming a dedicated team of moderators with knowledge of > Indonesian culture and language to be able to process reports of > terrorist-related content more quickly and accurately," he said. > > Communications and Information Technology Minister Rudiantara, who > goes by one name, said he had received an apology from Durov, who was > apparently not aware of several requests from the ministry since 2016. > > "I appreciate the response from Pavel Durov and the ministry will > follow it up as soon as possible in terms of technical details so that > standard operating procedures can be implemented immediately," > Rudiantara said. > > Indonesia's measures against Telegram come as Southeast Asian nations > step up efforts to combat Islamic radicalism following the capture of > the southern Philippine city of Marawi by Islamic State group-linked > militants. > > Nearly two months after the initial assault, Philippine forces are > still battling to regain complete control of the city. Experts fear > the southern Philippines could become a new base for the IS, including > Indonesian and Malaysian militants returning from the Middle East, as > an international coalition retakes territory held by the IS in Syria > and Iraq. > > But the government move sparked a public outcry in Indonesia, with > Twitter and Facebook exploding with negative comments and some people > reporting they were unable to access the web.telegram.org domain. > Indonesians are among the world's biggest users of social media. > > The free messaging service can be used as a smartphone app and on > computers through a web interface or desktop messenger. Its strong > encryption has contributed to its popularity with those concerned > about privacy and secure communications in the digital era but also > attracted militant groups and other criminal elements. > > Durov said Telegram blocks thousands of IS-related channels a month > and is "always open to ideas on how to get better at this." > > --30--
