Is Telegram the preferred app for terrorists? – Firstpost

The arrest of Telegram CEO Pavel Durov in Paris puts the app in the spotlight.

The French-Russian citizen was taken into custody at Paris-Le Bourget airport on Saturday evening after landing in France from Azerbaijan.

Durov, 39, was arrested on an arrest warrant because his platform was allegedly used for money laundering, drug trafficking and other crimes, including supporting terrorism.

French newspaper The World reported that Durov’s arrest is related to a “case accusing Telegram of complicity in numerous cases related to drug trafficking, support for terrorism and cyberstalking.”

But what do we know about Telegram? Why are authorities so concerned about it? Is it the preferred app of terrorists?

Let’s take a closer look:

What do we know about Telegram?

Telegram was launched in 2013 by Durov and his brother.

The app was developed as part of the Russian government’s crackdown on the mass pro-democracy protests that rocked Moscow in late 2011 and 2012.

The demonstrations prompted Russian authorities to crack down on digital space, issuing regulations that forced internet providers to block websites and mobile phone operators to store call recordings and messages that could be passed on to intelligence agencies.

According to Vox, The app claims to be a completely secure messaging platform.

The app, which has around 700 million users worldwide, is known for its focus on user privacy.

The FAQ page states that the company’s mission is to “protect your personal information from third parties such as marketers, advertisers, etc.”

According to Android Authority, Telegram’s unique selling point is end-to-end encryption.

This means that no one – not the government, not the police, not your boss – knows what you send through the app.

However, it should be noted that Telegram only encrypts its calls and “secret chats”.

Another layer of security is that you don’t have to share your phone number to contact someone.

This can be done easily by exchanging user names.

If you feel uncomfortable sharing your username, you can also contact people via QR code.

Additionally, users cannot forward or take screenshots of messages in “secret chats.”

Users can also easily set messages to self-destruct after sending – from one second to one week after sending.

A message deleted by a user is removed for everyone.

Users can also delete chats from others.

Although not all chats are end-to-end encrypted, they are still encrypted, according to the website.

That’s why many people are enticed to use the app.

“It has a reputation for being a medium that cannot be decoded,” said Ahmet S. Yayla, a counterterrorism expert at George Mason University who has tracked ISIS on social media for two years. Vox“People love the idea of ​​privacy.”

You don’t even need a SIM card to use Telegram.

Instead, you can buy a Telegram phone number using the cryptocurrency Toncoin.

“The SIM card you use to open your Telegram account and the SIM card you actually use for the phone with the application don’t have to be the same,” Yayla added, “so you can be the most fake person in the world.”

Is it the preferred app for terrorists?

The problem is that at least some of the people who have the greatest interest in such privacy features are criminals – and terrorists.

IS in particular repeatedly used the platform to organize attacks.

According to Vox, After the 2015 Paris attacks, ISIS used Telegram as a means to spread its propaganda.

The terrorist group also recruited the perpetrators of the 2016 Berlin Christmas market attack via the app.

An ISIS leader in Raqqa also used Telegram to give instructions to the gunman in the New Year’s Eve attack on Istanbul’s Reina nightclub.

Although Telegram states its stance on removing illegal content, including blocking terrorist bots, on its FAQ page, history shows that this is inevitably always the case.

Although Telegram claims to have taken down hundreds of ISIS accounts, experts say this is just a drop in the ocean.

Jade Parker, a senior research associate in the TAPSTRI research group, said Vox“They can create a new channel in 30 seconds. So instead of opening three channels, (ISIS) is now opening 50 channels to spread propaganda.”

“Deleting their channels will not affect their activity.”

“Telegram is not very reliable when it comes to shutting down these (ISIS-run) channels,” Yayla added.

According to Cyfirma.com, ISIS fighters continue to use the platform to recruit members for their cause.

For example, the organization’s Telegram channels used alleged atrocities against women and children in the Al Hol camp to gain followers.

These followers were later redirected to more radical content on other platforms.

These Telegram channels also serve as sources of money – they organize fundraisers to finance terrorist activities.

Accordingly India today, Terrorist groups such as Jaish-e-Mohammad and Lashkar-e-Taiba, the Resistance Front and the People’s Antifascist Front also frequently use Telegram.

The groups not only list their targets and spread their propaganda through these apps, but also provide videos and images of their brutal attacks on the Indian armed forces.

Telegram was also used during Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.

According to a G-Net investigation, the official Hamas channel sent 1,145 messages via the app on October 7 alone.

Uri Klempner, author for insighthighlighted Telegram’s emoji feature to warn that the app had promoted extremism during and after the attacks.

“Emojis are inherently subjective and open to interpretation, and their presence in the context of news consumption can have unprecedented impact. Particularly when combined with content that is already sensitive and divisive, these symbols can influence a user’s perception and subconsciously prompt them to have a particular emotional response when confronted with a piece of content,” Klempner wrote.

Klempner examined the concept of social influence, which assumes that people perceive public opinion through the lens of other users’ comments.

This, he argued, helps them form their own opinions – which often coincide with what they believe to be public opinion.

“The problem is further compounded by the fact that some of the Telegram posts have a significant reach, with many being viewed tens or even hundreds of thousands of times within hours of being posted. Yet only a fraction of viewers respond with emojis (see Figure 5, where 0.08% of viewers responded to the broadcast). This small minority inadvertently becomes the emotional compass for the majority, determining how people internalize and remember these images and videos and their emotional associations,” Klempner wrote.

Telegram itself follows the “don’t shoot the messenger” approach – in the truest sense of the word.

In a blog post titled “Don’t Shoot The Messenger,” Telegram argued that terrorists would simply switch to “perfectly viable alternatives to the existing encrypted app.”

It remains to be seen how governments around the world will react to Pavel’s arrest.

With contributions from agencies