Israel-Hamas War: Telegram, vector of crude propaganda | AIB

2023-10-18 19:05:49

INTERNET-GOVERNMENT-CONFLICT-HOSTAGES-TECHNOLOGY-TELECOMMUNICATIONS, PREV

Israel-Hamas War: Telegram, vector of crude propaganda

By Laurence BENHAMOU

PARIS, October 18, 2023 – In the event of an attack, it will undoubtedly be on the mysterious Telegram messaging service that the Israeli army and Hamas will announce their actions, as they have done since October 7. With sometimes unbearable videos.

As in Syria, as in Ukraine, this libertarian-inspired tool, half messaging, half social network, which escapes any moderation by States, has become the favorite communication channel of both camps.

First known as Daesh’s favorite app, it is now adopted by institutions and politicians of all stripes, up to the Elysée. Dissidents use it to escape the authorities. And criminals for their trafficking.

In ten years, the messaging created by the Russian brothers Pavel and Nikolai Durov, opponents of Vladimir Putin who fled Russia, has won over those who fear intrusions.

Its advantages: encryption deemed secure, complete anonymity and the commitment of managers never to reveal information about its users.

With more than 700 million active users, it seduces with its confidential or public “loops”. Messages broadcast to groups which can have up to 200,000 subscribers can be viewed by everyone. Free.

Based in Dubai, Telegram has sheltered itself from state moderation rules, at a time when the European Union and the United States are putting pressure on large platforms to remove illegal content.

The Durov brothers and their several dozen collaborators (a figure known thanks to their extremely rare comments to some media outlets) almost never appear in public.

The authorities who ask them to remove content are struggling. To the point that, at the end of 2022, former French MP Laëtitia Avia (presidential majority) and lawyer Rachel-Flore Pardo publicly called for “an end to Telegram’s impunity”.

– Mass registration –

Hateful, neo-Nazi, pedophile, conspiratorial and terrorist content abounds there. UNESCO revealed in the summer of 2022 that half of the content related to the Shoah on Telegram is negationist.

We can see the worst videos of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, including images of assassinations or hostages posted by Hamas, a movement banned from major platforms like Twitter.

Israelis and Palestinians immediately understood its key role as the primary source of raw information. “Hundreds of thousands of people are registering on Telegram from Israel and the Palestinian Territories,” Pavel Durov wrote on his blog on October 8.

“A lot of the most shocking videos first come from Telegram and then make their way to mainstream platforms. Terrorist organizations use it extensively. We see a lot of drone images there,” underlines French social media expert Tristan Mendès France.

“We choose Telegram for its confidential side. You cannot search for a keyword there, you must know the existence of the loops you are looking for or be invited to do so. It’s a community tool for insiders,” he emphasizes.

Criminals are even abandoning the dark web to find their way there, explains Julien Métayer, expert in Osint (open source information search).

“Former darkweb forums have switched to Telegram. Accessible by invitation, these have become mini-websites where a lot of files are exchanged. They auction stolen data there, you can even order a hitman there,” adds the French specialist.

– Impervious to moderation –

Until now, Telegram seemed impervious to the moderation of violent content, content to delete messages deemed questionable according to its own criteria.

She had thus blocked anti-vax accounts which called for attacks on doctors, but prides herself on not taking into account “local restrictions on freedom of expression”, specifies her blog.

On October 13, Pavel Durov notably defended the maintenance of Hamas accounts. “Earlier this week, Hamas used Telegram to warn civilians in Ashkelon (in Israel) to leave the area ahead of their missile strikes. Would shutting down their channel help save lives – or put more lives at risk? “, he justified himself.

However, on Monday evening, Telegram blocked, only in Europe, a Hamas account which had broadcast the video of a Franco-Israeli hostage. “This channel cannot be displayed because it violated local law,” the network said.

“It’s too little and too late,” regretted Tech Against Terrorism on Wednesday, a public-private group created by the UN, which “implores Telegram to delete terrorist content”, particularly that linked to Hamas.

The European Commission has clarified that it has not intervened, especially since it does not include Telegram in the list of “large platforms” subject to obligations to remove illegal content by the European DSA (Digital Services Act).

With AFP