After Iran Steals Sensitive Israeli Data, Israel Tries to Censor the Internet
haaretz.com
haaretz.com
Telegram has proved a massive challenge for Israel since the start of the war. While many tech firms have streamlined mechanisms through which states can reach out to them, Telegram is considered the least cooperative of them all. More than that, while many social media platforms have invested heavily in moderation, allowing people and organizations to help monitor content – for example, the removal of antisemitic content or posts inciting terrorism or even the removal of videos from the October 7 massacre – Telegram has not. States and users alike have a single email address to which they can send their grievances . Telegram emerged at the start of the war as a key platform utilized by Hamas' information warfare against Israel, one Israel was unable to properly address, lacking both monitoring capabilities and an understanding of the platform. Concerned by the wave of pro-Hamas content, which included videos from the actual attack as well as a constant stream of propaganda materials, Israelis in the high-tech industry tried late in 2023 to reach Telegram's founder, Pavel Durov. Though they successfully contacted Durov, who lives in the UAE, he was unreceptive to these private requests to improve moderation on the platform. Though a few pages linked directly to Hamas' military wing were locally blocked at a later stage, the private initiative failed to gain any real traction with the app's founder.