Indonesian authorities follow India in launching investigation into TelegramGetBlock Magazine - What happened? Indonesian Minister of Communications and Information Budi Arye Setiadi has admitted the possibility of blocking the Telegram messenger in the country. He said that the authorities are concerned about the spread of illegal content on the platform, including gambling and pornography. Due to similar suspicions, the same fate may befall the Bigo Live streaming app from Singapore's Bigo Technology. Jakarta Globe articleWhat else is known? The official said that both platforms failed to implement more effective content moderation mechanisms after receiving relevant notifications. Setiadi added that he would personally prefer to restrict both Telegram and Bigo Live, but the introduction of such measures requires investigations. "We are acting on the evidence collected by our team. If we find signs of pornography or gambling propaganda, we will block the platforms,” the minister emphasized. Indonesia is the third largest country in the world in terms of Telegram users (27 million downloads of the app), behind only India (104 million) and Russia (34 million).The blocking will lead to a significant reduction in the active user base of the messenger, which in July crossed the 950 million mark. It is noteworthy that two days earlier, the Indian authorities launched a similar investigation into Telegram, which could also result in the application being blocked in the country. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Digital Development are currently studying the platform for illegal activities, such as gambling and extortion. Both investigations began after the arrest of Telegram CEO Pavel Durov in Paris on August 24. He spent the maximum possible four days in custody without charge, after which he was placed under judicial supervision. Durov was questioned in connection with an investigation into an unnamed person accused of a number of crimes, including fraud, drug trafficking and child pornography, and was later charged with six offenses, including complicity in the operation of a platform for making illegal transactions, failure to provide information at the request of law enforcement, concealment of crimes as part of an organized crime group, distribution of child pornography and drugs.As part of the preventive measure, Durov posted bail of 5 million euros for release, he must report to the police twice a week. During the investigation, he was prohibited from leaving France and all his passports were confiscated.
