Indonesia is considering blocking access to the popular messaging app, due to concerns over its inability to control illegal content.
Rules
Budi Arie Setiadi, Indonesia’s Minister of Communication and Informatics expressed serious concerns about the widespread accessibility of illicit material on Telegram, particularly in connection with online gambling and pornography.
Both are prohibited in the country. The Indonesian government repeatedly requested that Telegram enhance its content moderation, but the platform hasn’t made enough improvements.
As a result, the country is now considering a complete ban on Telegram, which is one of the most popular messaging apps in Indonesia.
Ban
The situation escalated to the point where Indonesia is also considering a ban on Bigo Live, a live-streaming platform owned by Singapore-based Bigo Technology, due to similar issues.
Budi mentioned that both Telegram and Bigo promised before to tighten their moderation processes in response to the government’s concerns.
But there is growing frustration within the Indonesian government because these promises haven’t been fulfilled. The minister even shared a preference for shutting down both platforms altogether.
“We base our actions on evidence, and if we find proof of pornography or gambling promotion, we will move forward with blocking these platforms.”
Pain
If Indonesia will ban Telegram, it would have a quite painful impact on the platform’s local user base.
Indonesia ranks as the third-largest country globally in terms of Telegram usage, with over 27 million downloads.
Telegram had more than 950 million active users each month worldwide, with India leading the way with over 100 million users, followed by Russia with 34 million users.
This move is especially bad luck now, given that Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov facing legal challenges in France.
Durov is under judicial supervision following a court hearing related to alleged criminal activities tied to his role at Telegram.
