The processing of the political events in the United States of the past weeks and months, especially the storm on the Capitol, is far from over. Social media play a major role here, and the appearance of US President Donald Trump there is seen as a trigger for many controversies and crises over the past four years.
The mob, which forcibly entered the seat of the US democracy on January 6, 2020, is said to have organized itself via messenger and social networks. These included the Twitter pendent Parler and – so the allegation – Telegram.
There is now a lawsuit against the service, which is run from London and Dubai, in which a non-profit organization is demanding not only compensation, but also the removal of the application from the Apple App Store. The accusation: Telegram is not doing enough against hate speech.
Co-founder and CEO Pawel Durow has now made a public contribution to this Telegram and wrote: “Telegram welcomes peaceful debates and protests, but our Terms of Use expressly prohibit the spreading of public calls to violence.” He points out that these guidelines have been successfully enforced worldwide over the past seven years, including during crises in countries such as Belarus, Iran, Thailand and Hong Kong. “Civil rights movements around the world rely on Telegram to stand up for human rights without causing harm.”
“We look closely”
According to Durow, there were more reports of activities in the USA at the beginning of January. Accordingly, they took a closer look and took steps against calls for violence: “Thanks to these efforts, our moderators blocked and switched off hundreds of public calls for violence last week that would otherwise have reached tens of thousands of subscribers.”
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