Messaging app Telegram blocks Hamas channels

Gaza [Israel]: Encrypted messaging app, Telegram has restricted access to several channels affiliated with the Palestinian armed group Hamas. Telegram has been a popular channel for Hamas and its military arm, the Qassam Brigade since the October 7 attacks on Israel.

The official account of Hamas along with the news account, ‘Gaza Now’ have not been accessible on versions of Telegram, founded by brother Nikolai and Pavel Durov, downloaded from Google Play or Apple’s App Store since last week, Al Jazeera reported.

Telegram has become popular amongst the Hamas group in order to promote its anti-Zionist message. The platform’s loose moderation policies allow Hamas to broadcast violent videos and images of its attacks on Israel in real-time.

Qassam Brigade and Hamas’ official channels grew by nearly half a million and 100,000 subscribers, respectively, in the wake of the October 7 attacks.

Gaza Now – which is described as “Hamas-aligned” by the Atlantic Council – went from 343,506 subscribers to nearly 1.9 million.

Other armed groups including ISIL (ISIS) and al-Qaeda have also used Telegram as a way of promoting their ideology and claiming responsibility for attacks.

Telegram has not publicly commented on the reasons for restricting access, however, Google Play requires apps that feature user-generated content to moderate “egregious content, including content that promotes terrorist acts, incites violence, or celebrates terrorist attacks”, a report by Al Jazeera has said.

Hamas, whose domain rests in the Gaza Strip, is considered a “terrorist” organisation by the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Japan and Paraguay.

Layla Mashkoor, an associate editor at the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab said that “Telegram served a purpose to Hamas that day and every day since because it lacks moderation policies and these lax rules allow militant groups to upload graphic footage of the carnage they are participating in, and then that content will filter to other places on the internet like X,” Al Jazeera has shared.