Telegram restricts access to Hamas channels on Google, Apple stores

sandayle@iusearchlinux.fyi to Technology@lemmy.world – 114 points –

Telegram, the encrypted messaging app, has quietly restricted access to several channels affiliated with the Palestinian armed group Hamas.

Hamas’s official account, the account of its armed wing the Qassam Brigades, and the news account Gaza Now have not been accessible on versions of Telegram downloaded from Google Play or Apple’s App Store since last week.

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*sigh* Telegram isn't an "encrypted messaging app" unless you explicitly turn on "secret chats" that only work for one-on-one conversations and only on mobile. everything else can be read by the server.

It is encryped unlike SMS for example, it's just not E2E encrypted

Well which messenger uses completely unencrypted communication?

Encrypted messaging kinda means E2E these days.

At this point any web service is encrypted because it uses https then. Technivamly true but as everyone is doing it it doesn't mean anything anymore, so the meaning has changed to mean E2E encrypted.

Did they restrict it or is this more app stores restricting it for their app store users? Or have those app stores put so much. Pressure on telegram that the CEO finally caved and did this in the select countries those app stores operate in to comply with legal requirements or app store TOS requirements?

All this will achieve is make them move onto an actually good platform.

So what about the misinformation coming from Israel? This wouldn't be pure virtue signaling, would it?

*Palestinian government channels

They always refer to Likud propaganda channels as "Israeli" though, funny that.