When the Covid pandemic began to hit record levels of contamination in Germany at the end of November, another movement caught the attention of the German authorities – the radicalization of groups opposed to measures to contain the virus and the use of the Telegram app to threaten politicians.
Involved in spreading fake news and inciting hate crimes, about 60 profiles were blocked in February, after weeks of attempts by the country’s authorities to make the app comply with legislation that combats illegal content on social networks, one of the most severe in Europe.
As in Brazil, there were difficulties for federal agencies to notify those responsible for the application, which is based in Dubai (United Arab Emirates). After public pressure from the new government, with the imposition of fines and the threat of blocking the platform —which happened in Brazil, with the determination of the Minister of the Federal Supreme Court (STF) Alexandre de Moraes this Friday (18)—, the first accounts have been removed.
“From day one in office, I worked to get Telegram to cooperate. This pressure is working,” Interior Minister Nancy Faeser told a German newspaper.
Faeser took office on December 8, under the new German prime minister, Olaf Scholz. At the time, the country was experiencing a rise in cases and deaths from Covid and, at the same time, a radicalization of groups opposed to vaccines and the restrictions imposed due to the health crisis. In early December, two members of the Saxony state government were among the targets.
Health Secretary Petra Köpping hosted an evening act in front of her house by about 30 people, some with torches with fire. The suspicion is that the act was organized by Telegram, in which messages of intimidation circulated against her. Days later, Michael Kretschmer, governor of the same region, was targeted by a group that would have discussed plans to kill him, following the announcement of anti-Covid measures. Based on the tracking of Telegram messages, the police searched the homes of five members of the group, in Dresden and Heidenau, where weapons were allegedly found.
The cases sparked an alert that had been circulating for months among experts: on Telegram, radicals freely published illegal content, violating legislation against hate crimes and misinformation.
“Civil society and researchers had been, for months and even years, pointing out the possible risks of these large groups that have attracted extremists. But the government began to focus more on this problem as threats against politicians became more obvious, public and direct.” tell the sheet Julian Jaursch of the think tank SNV, the German acronym for New Responsibility Foundation, in Berlin.
Telegram is not the most popular social network in the country, but it is among the fastest growing since 2019. According to a survey published in January by the federal agency that regulates the country’s telecommunications services, the application was used by 16% of German fans. of online communication services, an increase of 6 percentage points in the period. Despite being the most used, WhatsApp (93%) and Facebook Messenger (39%), from Meta, had a slight loss of users — 6 percentage points together.
At least three factors explain why Telegram has become a niche for the circulation of extremist content in Germany. First, the entry into force, in January 2018, of the Law on Improvements in Law Enforcement in Social Networks, called NetzDG. Then, the understanding, only recently, that Telegram should fit into the legislation. Finally, content moderation carried out by the other platforms to curb fake news related to the pandemic.
“Many of the big platforms have cut and moderated the disinformation content against Covid-19 and against extremists. Some people stayed on these networks and lowered their tone, but others moved to more marginal platforms. That’s what happened with Telegram,” he says. Jaursch.
The NetzDG, a package of laws that extended to the online environment measures that were already applied offline, has among its rules the obligation, for platforms with more than 2 million registered users in the country, to maintain a channel for receiving complaints and, in cases where the content is clearly illegal, to remove it (or block access to it) within 24 hours of receiving the complaint. If the platform does not comply with the rules, it can be fined up to 50 million euros (R$ 277 million).
As the NetzDG does not apply to individual messaging services, such as WhatsApp or emails, the scope of the legislation to Telegram was under debate for months, until, last year, the Ministry of Justice understood that, due to the possibility of communication of a person with several, in groups or on broadcast channels, the app should also comply with the laws of social networks.
The decision was accompanied by two fines, one for not maintaining a channel for complaints, the other for not having a representative in the country to receive requests from the German authorities. And then the difficulties of establishing contact with those responsible for Telegram and making them comply with the rules became evident – ​​something that was only achieved a few weeks ago. In the meantime, the authorities have upped the ante.
Minister Faeser even publicly said that if the app did not react to the measures, it could be banned from the country. In the following days, according to local newspapers, the first contacts were established between authorities and those responsible for the app and the consequent blocking of 64 accounts. Sought, the Ministry of Interior did not respond. The Federal Police said it could not comment on ongoing actions.
Telegram did not respond to the report’s questions, sent by email, about the blocking of German accounts. On its question and answer page, the platform states, regarding the existence of illegal content on the network, that all individual or group chats “are private among their participants”, but that the channels are public, and indicates how to report inappropriate content. .
Although the first results have been achieved, with the removal of accounts with illegal content, experts point out the limits of action. “It is not possible to stay in this situation on a case-by-case basis, it is not a good approach. The authorities must improve the mechanisms in place so that companies can commit to the rules”, assesses Jaursch. “If you have a company that doesn’t comply with the law or doesn’t talk to regulators and governments, the problem remains.”
One way, according to him, is to make the legislation regulating online platforms gain international scale and be applied at the European Union level, something that is already under discussion.
Since December 2020, a proposal for a Law on Digital Services by the European Commission has been processed in the European Parliament, whose main goal is to create a “secure digital environment, in which the fundamental rights of users are protected”. One of the points is precisely to establish new mechanisms for cooperation between platforms and national authorities. The expectation is that the package, which needs to be approved by all 27 countries, can enter into force next year.
“Having a strong regulator is a key element. With laws at the EU level, a market of 450 million people and powerful institutions behind it, the pressure on companies will be greater,” says Jaursch.
