(PresidentialInsider.com)- After first threatening to shut down down Telegram, the free speech messaging platform that encrypts messages and protects them from being accessed by the government and third parties, the German government is now putting pressure on Google and Apple to start limiting the kind of content people share and see when using the app.
Nancy Faeser, Germany’s Federal Interior Minister, tweeted recently that the app is contributing to the spread of what she called “right-wing extremism” and “conspiracy theories,” and called for Apple and Google – who host the app stores that people download the app from – to do more to moderate the content people share.
In the tweet, Faeser said that she would like to remind Apple and Google of their “social responsibility,” and that as long as Telegram is available in their stores, they are “also a form of accelerator” for “right-wing extremism.”
This is the kind of language that extremists use, by the way. It’s also gaslighting. Their extremism is justified because they say they’re nice people, and everyone else is an extremist who needs to be silenced.
Wir erinnern #Apple und #Google an ihre gesellschaftliche Verantwortung. Solange sie Apps wie #Telegram in ihren Stores anbieten, sind sie auch eine Form von Brandbeschleuniger für #Rechtsextremismus und #Verschwörungstheorien. Kein Platz für #Hass und #Mordaufrufe!
— Nancy Faeser (@NancyFaeser) January 19, 2022
Faeser followed up her tweet with an effort to make it look as though she doesn’t oppose free speech, writing that everyone has a right to peaceful assembly, but that she draws the line when it comes to “hate” and “baiting.”
So, in other words, you can label anything you disagree with as “hate” and silence people without ever claiming to be an authoritarian.
The horrifying statements were also followed up by a statement from regional interior ministers in Germany who complained that people opposing the government’s COVID restrictions are also using Telegram.
It remains unclear whether Google and Apple will take action as moderating the content shared on these platforms would mean monitoring encrypted messages – which does away with the entire purpose on Telegram. Unless, of course, Faeser’s goal here is to stop people from having access to encrypted messaging platforms that the government can’t access…
And that doesn’t seem unlikely.
