German Interior Minister admitted blocking Telegram in the country – RBK

German Interior Minister Nancy Feather did not rule out blocking Telegram in the country as a last resort

Blocking the messenger in the country would be a last resort when other means fail, Nancy Feather said. The claims are related to the activities of COVID dissidents in the channels. Telegram demanded to appoint a representative in Germany

The blocking of the Telegram messenger in Germany cannot be ruled out, but that would be an extreme measure, stated Interior Minister Nancy Feather in an interview with the newspaper Die Zeit.

“We are a state governed by the rule of law, but to exclude this (blocking. – RBK) we can’t either. Blocking would be a very serious step and clearly a last resort. Before that, all other measures must be exhausted, ”she said.

From February 1, 2022, according to the amendments to the Law on the Protection of Rights on the Web, social networks are obliged to report illegal content to the authorities, wrote edition. This rule applies to resources with at least 2 million registered users. Administrators now have to not only delete illegal posts, as before, but report this to the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA). Facebook and Google disagreed with the requirement to check all posts themselves and transmit questionable content to BKA. The companies have filed a lawsuit.

Earlier in January, the Minister of Justice of the Federal Republic of Germany, Marko Buschmann, in an interview with the Bild newspaper, said that the Telegram leadership should appoint a representative in Germany for legal inquiries that now have to be sent to Dubai – where Telegram is headquartered.