video
Sam Brinton, Office of Nuclear Energy
https://www.thefocus.news/culture/sam-brinton-biden/
Telegram blocks over 60 channels in Germany — report | DW | 12.02.2022
Deutsche Welle (www.dw.com)
Interior Minister Faeser subsequently threatened to shut down Telegram in Germany and said the company could face massive fines of up to €55 million ($62.4 million).
The messenger service is particularly popular with conspiracy theorists, far-right extremists and COVID-deniers. Germany has become increasingly concerned about illegal activity on the encrypted platform.
The messaging app Telegram blocked dozens of channels in Germany, including an account belonging to a prominent conspiracy theorist, the SĂĽddeutsche Zeitung newspaper reported on Friday.
The move comes amid increased pressure from the German government and authorities, who have expressed concern over groups using the app to spread disinformation about the coronavirus pandemic and organize protests that have turned violent.
Telegram closes contested channels
Telegram shut down a total of 64 accounts, the SĂĽddeutsche Zeitung reported, citing security sources.
It is "the first time" Telegram has taken action against the spread of "hate and incitement" on its platform in Germany, the paper noted.
The closure of the accounts came after pressure from the Interior Ministry and the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA), who entered into discussions with the heads of the app in an effort to flag issues with several channels.
One of the Telegram channels that was closed down belonged to conspiracy theorist and former vegan chef Attila Hildmann, who spread antisemitic messages as well as disinformation about the coronavirus pandemic to his followers on the platform, the paper reported.
It was not immediately clear which other channels were affected.
The pressure is working
Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said she would continue her push to get Telegram to cooperate with German laws.
The interior minister told the SĂĽddeutsche Zeitung that there are increasing waves of "hate" on the platform, as well as "threats against people and against our democracy."
"Telegram must no longer be an accelerant for right-wing extremists, conspiracy theorists and other agitators. Death threats and other dangerous messages of hate must be deleted and have legal consequences," she said.
"The pressure is working," Faeser added.
According to the paper, the German government grew increasingly frustrated with Telegram following several failed bids to remove hate speech and accounts issuing threats from the platform.
Initially, German officials struggled to track down the company's official address to send official complaints. Interior Minister Faeser subsequently threatened to shut down Telegram in Germany and said the company could face massive fines of up to €55 million ($62.4 million).
Under German law, social media giants must remove illegal content — such as hate speech and death threats — or face large fines. Platforms such as Telegram, however, have been harder to pin down than more mainstream sites like Twitter and Facebook.
Growing extremism concerns
Telegram, which is based in Dubai, is a popular app which provides encrypted messaging and has so far largely evaded regulatory oversight.
Experts in Germany have increasingly voiced concerns that the app is becoming a hotbed for extremist activity and radicalization.
Far-right and extremist groups have increasingly turned to alternative platforms like Telegram after being kicked off of major social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter.
During the coronavirus pandemic, Telegram has become a popular platform for COVID conspiracy theorists, antivaxxers, and members of the "Lateral Thinkers" (Querdenker) movement that oppose pandemic curbs.
Telegram has been used to organize protests against COVID restrictions that have turned violent at times. Messages threatening German politicians and other public figures have also been shared on the platform.
https://www.dw.com/en/telegram-blocks-over-60-channels-in-germany-report/a-60752775?maca=en-rss-en-all-1573-xml-mrss
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Reminder
Telegram platform founders brothers Pavel and Nikolai Durov
t.me/s/durov
Pavel Valerievich Durov is a Russian-born entrepreneur who is best known for being the founder of the social networking site VK, and later the Telegram Messenger. He is the younger brother of Nikolai Durov. Since being dismissed as CEO of VK in 2014, the Durov brothers have traveled the world in self-imposed exile as citizens of Saint Kitts and Nevis. In 2017 Pavel joined the World Economic Forum Young Global Leaders as a representative of Finland.Wikipedia
Born:Pavel Valerievich Durov, October 10, 1984, Leningrad, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union>>15608356
https://www.weforum.org/people/pavel-durov
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pavel_Durov
Q. Who are the people behind Telegram?
Telegram is supported by Pavel Durov and his brother Nikolai. Pavel supports Telegram financially and ideologically while Nikolai's input is technological. To make Telegram possible, Nikolai developed a unique custom data protocol, which is open, secure and optimized for
https://telegram.org/faq#q-how-old-is-telegram
Nikolai Durov is also an experienced computer programmer. He was a member of a St Petersburg State University student team winning a student world tournament in programming. His high school education was in Italy. His younger brother Pavel V. Durov is a professional programmer and main constructor behind one of the most popular internet sites in Russia. The company is not any more in their control. Nikolai and Pavel together established communication platform and company Telegram (see FAQ and wikipedia) where they worked on Nikolai’s envisioned Telegram Open Network (TON) which he classifies as a 5th generation blockchain project enhanced with additional DNS, proxy and (torrent-like) storage infrastructure.
https://ncatlab.org/nlab/show/Nikolai+Durov
russiapedia.rt.com
Telegram founder: Pavel Durov – Russiapedia Science and technology Prominent Russians
Born October 10, 1984
Pavel Durov is a programmer and a successful businessman who founded the largest social network in Russia’s “.ru” internet domain, VKontakte.ru (or “In Touch”).
Pavel Durov was born in St. Petersburg, but spent most of his childhood in Italy, in the city of Turin. His father Valery Durov (who holds a Ph. D. in Philology) was working there. He went to an Italian elementary school, and after returning to Russia attended the Academy Gymnasium in St. Petersburg.
After school, Durov followed in his father’s footsteps. He attended the philological department of St. Petersburg State University and was preparing to become a translator. While studying, he created an online-library for his fellow students to help them share books and notes. All of a sudden, his invention became popular all over the University. Encouraged by this success Durov expanded by launching a University forum. Maintaining and developing it, he came up with the concept of a student social network.
In 2006, the Delovoy Peterburg newspaper ("St Petersburg Business") published an article about the University forum, and Durov's former classmate Vyacheslav Mirilashvili accidentally happened upon the article. In those days, Mirilashvili was living in the USA and like many other American young people was watching the development of Facebook. He estimated the potential of Durov’s project and immediately went searching for Durov’s address.
The reunited classmates decided to position the new network as a great tool for finding former schoolmates and long-lost childhood friends. Mirilashvili’s father funded the project, and in November, 2006, registration on VKontakte was opened. By the end of 2007, 3 million users had joined. People appreciated the friendly interface and the great variety of games and applications. Originally, VKontakte was supposed to be a network for students, but soon, the students' parents, younger siblings and even grandparents began to fill in VKontakte registration forms.
VKontakte is often compared to Facebook. There is a certain resemblance, and Durov does not deny it. For example, the blue and white color theme of VKontakte brings Facebook to mind, and so does the system of “likes”: on both sites anyone can express their opinion about any post or comment by hitting the “like” button. But there are many differences between these two networks, and the most important one lies in their attitude towards copyright laws.
There are several laws against online piracy in Russia, but the majority of Russian citizens hardly believe in their existence. If you ask any Russian Internet user what was the last movie or album he bought, he would most likely laugh. Why spend money on something you can download for free from online file storage or using a torrent tracker?
In 2010, the Recording Industry Association of America ranked “VKontakte” as the number two illegal distributor of music worldwide. In 2011, the Office of the United States Trade Representative named VKontakte among the most significant pirate databases. Some of the copyright holders attempted to sue the network or some of the users, but all the attempts were fruitless. Durov himself is known to believe in the freedom of sharing and to support piracy.
On December 4, 2012, the Russian State Duma elections took place. The ruling party won, but numerous violations of the election process were recorded on camera phones by voters and observers, and as a result the fraud stories and videos flooded the internet, inciting the appearance of many opposition groups in social networks.
A couple of weeks later, the Federal Security Service (or FSB) addressed Pavel Durov, asking him to block seven such groups on his social networking site. The photo of the letter was posted on Durov's page, together with his response: a picture of a dog sticking out its tongue. After his refusal to comply, Durov was summoned to the office of the general prosecutor to testify, but came out of the battle unscathed.
Until 2012, Pavel Durov avoided becoming a public person. He did not join any IT conferences, did not appear on TV, and it was impossible to find an interview or any video with him. Things changed on January 24, 2012, when Durov attended the Digital Life Design conference in Munich, Germany. There he made an impressive gesture: after a brief report about social networks in Russia, he donated 1 million dollars to Wikipedia.
Nowadays, according to the meter on the site, more than 165 million people are registered on VKontakte.
Written by Olga Pigareva, RT
https://russiapedia.rt.com/prominent-russians/science-and-technology/pavel-durov/