“There is a call to violence!” Traffic light parties want Telegram ban - Greens quarrel

Created: 12/14/2021, 6:40 PM

From: Jonas Raab

The protection of the constitution has Telegram in its sights due to tens of thousands of fake news and conspiracy theories.

© NurPhoto / imago

Because conspiracy theories and hatred are spreading more and more on Telegram, criticism of the messenger service from politics is getting louder and louder.

Berlin - Telegram is a popular messenger - unfortunately also with many right-wing extremists and corona deniers. Because the company, headquartered in the United Arab Emirates, does not intervene in the event of hatred and agitation, unlike WhatsApp and Co., fake news, calls for mobilization and death threats are shared on a large scale via the app. In politics, therefore, the alarm bells are ringing increasingly - except for two parties.

The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution has been keeping an eye on Telegram for a long time and has noticed its frequent use in constitutionally critical scenes.

"Supporters of the constitutional protection-relevant corona denier scene in particular use the platform to disseminate their own agenda and to mobilize for demonstrations and events," explains the authority based in Cologne at the request of the 

.

Telegram: Justice Minister Buschmann calls for a tough pace like on Facebook

The new Federal Minister of Justice Marco Buschmann (FDP) also said at the beginning of the week in the ARD Tagesthemen that one had to think about all possibilities and meant restrictions for the messenger in Germany, if not a ban. SPD politicians expressed themselves similarly: “Telegram has long ceased to be a pure messenger service, it has become a social platform. There is advertising for demonstrations, calls for violence there, and addresses of politicians are published there. So, action has to be taken here, ”said Thuringia's Interior Minister Georg Maier on Monday (December 13th) on

-“ Morgenmagazin ”.

The opposition speaks of an “urgent need for action”.

CSU regional group leader Alexander Dobrindt calls for Telegram to be included in the Network Enforcement Act (NetzDG).

This statement is based on a new assessment by the Federal Office of Justice.

There is meanwhile namely the opinion that Telegram is not a pure messenger service, but a social network.

Accordingly, the NetzDG also applies.

Among other things, it requires platforms such as Facebook or Twitter to provide a simple reporting channel for criminal content and to quickly delete the relevant posts.

Dobrindt wants to set a deadline for Telegram - if it expires, he wants to block the messenger

The federal government must also set a deadline for Telegram to delete anti-constitutional content, hatred and agitation, said Dobrindt.

Should the messenger service let this deadline pass, thought should be given to making it unusable in Germany through geoblocking, said the CSU regional group leader.

Lower Saxony's Interior Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD) suggests a different approach.

He wants to talk to Apple and Google about stopping Telegram sales.

"What happens in the Telegram groups and channels contradicts the compliance guidelines of Apple and Google in every respect," the SPD politician told

.

Otherwise, one must expect attacks with fatal outcome and, in the worst case, even murder and terrorist attacks.

Telegram: AfD positions itself as expected - Green interior expert from Notz quarrels

As expected, the AfD is against any kind of regulation at Telegram.

"The network enforcement law should be abolished," said Joana Cotar, digitization expert of the AfD parliamentary group, to

.

It is correct that Telegram withdraws from this.

Konstantin von Notz, interior expert for the Greens, spoke out in

favor of a differentiated approach to the messenger

at

.

A German ban on Telegram would not be effective, he explained - on the one hand, because the service was used not only by hate commentators, but also by many others;

on the other hand, because in the event of a ban, another service would take the place of Telegram.

Telegram ban in Germany?

Internet lawyer is skeptical

Matthias Kettemann, an expert in internet law and professor at the University of Innsbruck, told 

that new national laws "definitely won't come".

The Internet lawyer considers a German ban to be unconstitutional.

Therefore, politicians would not have many options, explained Kettemann.

“Our solution must not be to block Telegram.

We have to force Telegram to moderate better and to delete clearly illegal content faster. "