Islam Times - Telegram Shuts down Saudi-Owned Channel over Violence-Inciting

Islam Times - Messaging application Telegram has suspended channel of Saudi owned Amadnews website as it was used to fuel violence and unrest in Iran.

Telegram, which is particularly popular in Iran, shut down Amadnews on request of Iranian government, who said the channel featured instructions on making Molotov cocktails and taking up arms.

“A Telegram channel is encouraging hateful conduct, use of Molotov cocktails, armed uprising, and social unrest. NOW is the time to stop such encouragements via Telegram,” Mohammad-Javad Azari Jahromi, Iran’s Minister of Information and Communications Technology tweeted to Telegram’s founder, Russian entrepreneur Pavel Durov.

Durov promised to investigate the case, and within hours suspended the ‘amadnews’ channel, saying that it violated the “no calls for violence rule.”

"A Telegram channel (amadnews) started to instruct their subscribers to use Molotov cocktails against police and got suspended due to our "no calls for violence" rule. Be careful – there are lines one shouldn't cross. Similar case from October," Durov responded on his twitter account.

“For us, the line is pretty straightforward. Criticizing local authorities, challenging the status quo and engaging in political debate are OK,” Durov wrote in the linked blog post, originally published this October. “Meanwhile, promoting violence and calling for actions that can harm innocent people are not OK. This is a rule of thumb we’re always applying when moderating public channels.”

Iran in September sued Telegram over facilitating the spread of terrorism, pornography and other illegal activities.