Photo: Smartphone user, via dts news agency
Dresden (dts news agency) – Saxony’s Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer (CDU) has brought a restriction on the Telegram messenger service into play. “It can no longer be acceptable that the operators of Telegram from Dubai watch idly as death threats are spread in their network,” he told “Bild am Sonntag”.
And further: “If you want to continue offering your services on the German market, you have to take action against this hate speech. Otherwise the EU, the federal government must, Apple and Android must restrict their use. ”Telegram is used by anti-vaccination campaigners to spread false information and to call for demonstrations. Radical opponents of vaccination had recently forged plans to kill Kretschmer on Telegram. “Hatred and incitement to corona demonstrations and also in the social networks must stop. Freedom of expression is a valuable asset, but anonymous threats are unacceptable, ”the Prime Minister continued. According to the Saxon Ministry of the Interior, 126 demonstrations have taken place in Saxony since December 5, at which 1,254 violations were registered and 1,135 fines were issued. The Saxon emergency ordinance currently only allows rallies with a maximum of ten participants.
The Interior Minister of Lower Saxony Boris Pistorius (SPD) called for instruments to identify criminals on Telegram. “We need an identification requirement or the login trap for social networks. In the case of agitation and other crimes, you can identify the perpetrator without delay, ”said Pistorius of“ Bild am Sonntag ”. According to a survey by the opinion research institute INSA for the “Bild am Sonntag”, 76 percent want Telegram to delete hate speech and threats (against: eleven percent, don’t know / no information: 13 percent), 50 percent are in favor of a clear name requirement (against: 35 percent, don’t know / n / a: 15 percent) for messenger services.
54 percent believe that corona deniers and lateral thinkers pose a threat to Germany. That is even more than for right-wing extremists (46 percent), Islamists (34 percent) or left-wing extremists (23 percent) (none of them: seven percent). For the survey, the polling institute INSA interviewed 1,003 people on December 10, 2021.
–
