2y ago

Telegram has blocked Hamas channels on Android because Google forced it to

www.theverge.com

cross-posted from: https://lemdro.id/post/2606865

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yakultdrinkr @lemdro.id

2y ago

Telegram has blocked Hamas channels on Android because Google forced it to

www.theverge.com /2023/10/25/23931710/telegram-android-block-hamas-channels-google-play-guidelines-war-israel

Android @lemdro.id

yakultdrinkr @lemdro.id

2y ago

Telegram has blocked Hamas channels on Android because Google forced it to

www.theverge.com /2023/10/25/23931710/telegram-android-block-hamas-channels-google-play-guidelines-war-israel

TechNews @radiation.party

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2y ago

VERGE

Telegram has blocked Hamas channels on Android because Google forced it to

www.theverge.com /2023/10/25/23931710/telegram-android-block-hamas-channels-google-play-guidelines-war-israel

47 comments

It's pretty understandable. Many companies do not want to use their platform to give terrorists a voice.
Title is a bit misleading. Those channels are not blocked on Android in general, but only on the play store version of telegram. Download from F-Droid instead and that's that.
- I think I can do without terrorist channels.
  
  It's the principal of the matter.
- No one does except those in power.
  The show must go on and "I'm" the star. - vote me
Not sure how I feel about this, Google isn't the law but it is their platform...but the app is the platform that hosts them and they haven't been forced to remove any other groups.
- Telegram has removed terrrorist groups such as ISIS before. See this 2019 Wired article
- On the other hand Facebook doing nothing literally spiralled Myanmar into ethnic cleansing.
  So sometimes a bit of moderation is better
  
  Israel is already doing ethnic cleansing so... I wouldn't really call this a win
- Same here. I think censorship is bad - but looks like Google really want to distance themselves from anything Hamas related, and even Telegram bosses who didn't bend for Russian government pressure (couple of years ago there was an attempt to control or block Telegram there) prefer to stay away from it...
- They're also legally liable for content on their app store, which is one of the big (maybe biggest) reasons they bother to monitor it so carefully. Their app store moderation is genuinely heavy-handed at the best of times, but it makes sense for them to distance themselves from Telegram in this case.
  It also entirely makes sense that Telegram has only limited their changes to Android as a response. Apple customers are where the money is at anyway.
Good, Hamas terrorists and their apologists should not be given a platform.
- Israel and their apologists should not be given one, either.
This is just another parameter that will now be built into future chat software; no high level control over channels or groups by any central authority. The Internet will route around all obstacles.
They shouldn't submit to arbitrary censorship, even if I also disagree with Hamas, Google could do it to anyone they disagree with. Telegram should move to (or at least also be on, with an uncensored version) F-Droid.
- If you think blocking literal terrorists is "arbitrary censorship" then I don't even know what the fuck you are looking for in a society.
  
  One where we treat HAMAS and IDF the same way
- They are. There's a FOSS version of Telegram on f-droid.
This is why I don't use a messaging app that allows non-participants to control my conversations.
Wow Google, that's pretty not evil of you!
Hamas channels, or Hamas channels promoting violence?
First good thing Google has ever done.
- 🙄 way to be over dramatic
The world is telling palestinians to just give up and die
- Hamas does not equal Palestinians.
  
  Right, so get rid of hamas so theres no more obstacle to exterminating palestinians.
- Stop calling every Palestinian a terrorist.
  
  Who is stopping palestinians being exterminated?

47 comments