The Communications and Informatics Ministry plans to block the Telegram application to avoid it being used to spread radicalism and encourage acts of terror. Telegram application users could still use the application on Sunday (16/7).
JAKARTA, KOMPAS – President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo has stressed that blocking the encrypted messaging app Telegram Messenger was undertaken in order to maintain the safety of the people and the country. The government has found thousands of data and information on the Telegram service that has the potential to disrupt national security.
President Jokowi made the statement after the launch of the Nasdem Party’s State Defense Academy in Jakarta, Sunday (16/7). The President said that blocking the messaging app was not a sudden decision because the government had been monitoring conversations on a number of Telegram channels for a long time. “We [the government] consider security important. The security of the country, the safety of the people. Therefore, the decision [to block the app] was made,” said President Jokowi.
Based on a report the President received, Telegram has been used to spread radicalism and terrorism. Thousands of conversations have been found that appeared to be leading towards a call to radicalism and terrorism, both at home and abroad.
Indonesia National Police chief Gen. Tito Karnavian, who also attended the event, confirmed that the Telegram app was often used by terrorists. “The cases of the Jakarta Thamrin bombing, followed by Medan and then Bandung, all communicated using Telegram,” he said.
Terrorists choose to communicate using Telegram because the app is difficult to hack. Telegram also has a group chat feature with a capacity of up to 10,000 members. Radical ideas are often spread through Telegram’s group chat, as well as calls to carry out acts of terror.
Apology
Last week, Telegram CEO Pavel Durov sent a letter to Communications and Information Minister Rudiantara to apologize for his late response to a request by the Indonesian government to block Telegram channels used to spread radicalism and terrorism.
The Communication and Information Ministry’s director general of information apps, Semuel A Pangarepan, said he had sent a reply to Durov containing a positive response from the Indonesian government and an invitation to discuss the issue of fighting negative content further.
Durov, on his official Telegram account, mentioned three alternatives so that the government would not need to place a total block on the communication app.
Firstly, Telegram could block all public channels linked to terrorism as reported by the Communication and Information Ministry.
Secondly, Durov had already contacted the ministry through email to engage in smoother communication in the future.
Thirdly, Telegram would form a special team that understood the Indonesian language and culture. By doing this, reports on content with terrorist implications could be dealt with faster and more accurately.
Budi Rahardjo, an electrical engineering lecturer at the Bandung Institute of Technology, said that there were many channels on the internet that could be used by terrorists to communicate. In fact, they could use even online games as a medium of communication, or even create their own communication app.
A similar point was made by digital forensics expert Ruby Alamsyah. According to Ruby, it was not difficult to create a messaging app, especially with the abundance of open source technology available.
Tito concurred. “We will also see whether these terrorism networks will use other social media or not. But we predict that they will certainly look for other means of communication,” said the Police chief.
Rudiantara asked companies that provide over-the-top (OTT) apps and services to design a standard operating procedure to deal with content linked to radicalism and terrorism. Furthermore, OTT service providers were also expected to carry out self-censorship of such content.
