RTL>podcast>
December 17, 2021 – 6:00 am Clock
–
Is the Messenger Telegram as bad as its reputation?
Blackbox Telegram – apart from the roughly eight million Germans who use Messenger, very few people know how this social network works. What many people in Germany associate with it are people like Attila Hildmann and Michael Wendler, who distribute their content there almost unfiltered, while the network itself hardly draws any conclusions. Prof. Matthias Kettemann, program director at the Leibniz Institute for Media Research, has more insight. He explains in the podcast “today important” the differences to other services.
Telegram is particularly attractive for secret communication
Whatsapp is mainly for communication between individuals – Facebook is for large groups. And Telegram? Be both in one, says Kettemann. So far, this has made Telegram a real black box for the authorities, because information is consistently refused by those responsible, and official letters and demands are simply ignored.
In Germany, the platform is therefore particularly attractive for groups who want to communicate in secret. From fake IDs to weapons, you can buy almost anything there if you only know where. Hatred and hate speech are spread wildly, not only in the groups of Hildmann and Co.: “Telegram allows pretty much everything except for the sexual exploitation of children and IS propaganda,” says the expert for digital communication spaces, Prof. Kettemann. The value of the messenger is the absolute freedom of expression.
Many groups use Telegram because they want to communicate with each other in secret.
–
–
Telegram was developed by a Russian
But that’s exactly why the network has a completely different reputation in other countries – it is mainly used by opposition and critical voices in Russia and Belarus. Because behind it is the Russian Mark Zuckerberg, so to speak, according to Prof. Kettemann: “Mr. Durow, the founder of ‘VKontakte’. This is a Russian Facebook equivalent. He is a startup millionaire and founded Telegram eight years ago as a data protection sensitive Alternative.”
In Germany, other groups take advantage of this confidentiality. For example, radical anti-vaccination opponents were exposed in Dresden who spread death threats against the Saxon Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer via Telegram.
Most of the content on Telegram is constitutional
But as negative as Telegram appears in the reporting at the moment – a large part of the content is legally compliant. Kettemann is therefore also against a ban on the app. The expert answers podcast host Michel Abdollahi: “We don’t want to live in a state that bans an entire platform just because it doesn’t fulfill its obligations. […] 90 to 95 percent of the content is completely unproblematic. That would be a terrible unconstitutional by-catch. “
How to subscribe to “Important Today”
Don’t miss an episode of “Important Today” and subscribe to our podcast at: Audio Now, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Deezer, Castbox or in your favorite podcast app. If you have any questions or suggestions, write to us at [email protected].
– — .
