First Deputy head of the constitutional Committee of the state Duma Alexander Ageev appealed to the head of the FSB Alexander Bortnikov with a request to verify the information that terrorists from the “Islamic state” Telegram is actively used, and to restrict access to the messenger to the Russians, if it is confirmed.
“According to reports, repeatedly appeared in the Russian media, the messenger Telegram is actively used for propaganda purposes by terrorists from the “Islamic state,” said Ageyev, adding that through Telegram, subject text, photo and video materials with extremist content. — It can be assumed that there occurs the process of recruitment of Russian citizens in the ranks of the IG”.
Ageyev argues that the terrorists used the Telegram to coordinate their actions during the terrorist attacks in Paris on 13 November, in particular, because all the information in messenger automatically protected and goes through several levels of encryption.
The MP believes that restricting access to Telegram in Russia will not hurt the freedom of speech and will not violate the rights of citizens, because Russia has a lot of social networks, instant messengers and online services that comply with Russian legislation in the sphere of combating extremism.
Experts doubt that this initiative will help in the fight against terrorism. The coordinator safer Internet centre URVAN Parfentyev told on the air of “Moscow FM” said that the attackers immediately go to the other messengers.
“Theoretically, this solution can take. But Telegram is not the only service of this kind. The meaning of the termination of the access only one remains in question. Attackers go straight for the other services. The issue here is the very essence of the Internet, which is characterized by the cross-borderness. For example, the services of “Yandex” can be used even in Latin America.
In my opinion, the question is not so much associated with the administration of the service, much to the cooperation within the framework of operational-investigative activity, investigative work. Most effective means of revealing the communications of terrorists, their accounts and channels and spot channels suppress their activity,” he explained.
