Radicalization on the messenger service Telegram led German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser of the SPD to consider shutting it down. But now Faeser is backing away from the plan, as she revealed in an interview with radio station HR Info.
Faeser: No Telegram shutdown after all
Due to growing radicalization on the messenger service Telegram, German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser brought up a possible shutdown about two weeks ago, but the plan has now changed, as the SPD politician revealed to HR Info.
With her objection, Faeser wanted to increase the pressure on Telegram: “One cannot approve in this world that calls for violence, hate and incitement are published without Telegram reacting,” the politician said in the interview.
That Telegram is capable of counteracting such radicalization, the service has “proven in other areas of phenomena, when it was some time ago about hate and agitation in connection with Islamism”.
From February 01, 2022, the new network enforcement law takes effect, which opens up new possibilities for Faeser and the government. For example, with the help of a task force of the BKA, which is to identify and pursue suspects to further increase the pressure. If this did not lead to an official address for the perpetrators, contacts abroad could be used. Faeser has already made contact with neighboring France and the Netherlands for this purpose.
Difference between messenger and public area
According to Faeser, a clear distinction must be made between the actual messenger and the social network in the public domain. In the latter, there are public calls to hate and violence.
There, for example, there have recently been death threats against Manuela Schwesig, Prime Minister of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, and against her Saxon counterpart Michael Kretschmer. According to the report, demonstrators had approached within 80 meters of Schwesig’s house, which was not to be tolerated by the government.
Overall, he said, the aim was to noticeably increase the pressure to investigate right-wing extremism and racism and to make society more resistant to the ideological poison. By Easter, Nancy Faeser wants to present a concrete plan for action against right-wing extremism on Telegram, she said.
The Federal Criminal Police Office’s task force began its work on January 27 to crack down on threats, insults and calls for murder voiced on the messenger service. It also aims to identify and prosecute suspects. According to BKA President Holger Münch, the agency also plans to take special measures if Telegram is not willing to cooperate.
