Enlarge image
Burnt-out Crocus City Hall near Moscow: “Terrorist content”
Photo: Evgenia Novozhenina / REUTERS
The Russian media regulator Roskomnadzor has restricted access to eleven channels on Telegram in the past two days because they were used to spread “terrorist content.” The state news agency RIA reported this on Thursday.
Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov had previously called on the owner of Telegram to pay more attention. In an interview with the news site Life, Peskov praised the platform of the Russian-born billionaire Pavel Durov as technologically unique. But it is increasingly becoming a tool for terrorists. However, there are no plans to block Telegram.
Last Friday, at least 143 people were killed in an attack on a Moscow concert hall. According to the RIA news agency, the attackers were recruited via a Telegram channel of the terrorist group Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISPK).
One of the suspects later arrested said he was recruited for the attack “a month ago” via Telegram by the assistant of an internet preacher. He was promised half a million rubles, the equivalent of around 5,000 euros, in return.
According to its own information, Telegram had more than 700 million monthly active users worldwide in 2023. The fortune of founder Durov, who left Russia in 2014 and currently lives in Dubai, is estimated by Forbes magazine at $15.5 billion. According to Telegram, he holds citizenship of the United Arab Emirates and France.
pbe/Reuters