Gov’t Blocks Telegram to Prioritize State Security: President Jokowi

President Jokowi answers reporters’ questions giving a public lecture at the State Defense Academy of the National Democratic (Nasdem) Party in Jakarta, Sunday (16/7).

President Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo gives clarification regarding the decision made by Ministry of Communication and Informatics to block 11 domain name systems (DNS) owned by the Telegram encrypted messaging application.

According to the President, the decision was made because the Government considers that the app has been widely used by local terrorists to communicate and spread radical ideologies in Indonesia.

“The Government has observed the condition for quite a long time and the State prioritizes state security, security of the people; hence we made that decision,” the President said to reporters after giving a public lecture at the State Defense Academy of the National Democratic (Nasdem) Party in Jakarta, Sunday (16/7).

The Government, the President said, has detected thousands of activities involving communication between countries in the app that lead to terrorism activities.

Commenting on the fact news that Telegram claimed it has closed down accounts related to terrorist activities, President Jokowi said that it turns out many thousands of accounts remain undetected.

President Jokowi also said that Ministry of Communication and Informatics has cooperated with instant messaging and social media providers to eradicate accounts that spread terrorism; so the decision to block the app will not be followed by blocking other social media accounts. “No, we won’t block other social media providers,” the President said, adding that there are still many apps that can be used by the people to communicate. “We know there are still many apps that can be used,” the President said. (BPMI Setpres/ES) (EP/YM/Naster)