A report in the German newspaper Die Welt suggests that the government there is considering taking action to shut down messaging app Telegram because people opposed to COVID restrictions and lockdowns are using it to organise protests and share information.
The report contains an interview with German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser who stated “We cannot rule this out,” when asked if the platform will be targeted for censorship.
“A shutdown would be grave and clearly a last resort. All other options must be exhausted first,” Faeser clarified.
The minister also told the newspaper that while it is currently unclear what legal action would be needed to shut down the platform, the German government is in consultation with the European Union regarding potential regulation of it.
The Epoch Times notes that in Germany, which has implemented some of the most severe pandemic restrictions, “Telegram has been used as a hub of communication for the protest movement against the measures established to fight the CCP virus, including lockdowns, intermittent mask mandates, and restrictions for the unvaccinated.”
Telegram has been shut down or blocked in other countries including Iran, China, Pakistan, India, Thailand, and Russia.
The platform saw a huge surge in users last year after Facebook owned Watts App introduced a controversial privacy update which led to concerns that the app would hand over user data to its parent company. It also came at the same time as President Trump’s purge from big tech social media platforms.
Telegram founder Pavel Durov warned that people are “being held hostage by tech monopolies.”
In addition to being independent from big tech, Telegram promises robust end-to-end encryption, ensuring messages remain private.
This has made Telegram a target for authoritarians and big tech monopolists.
In the U.S. lobbyist group The Coalition for a Safer Web even filed a lawsuit against Apple in an effort to get Telegram removed from the app store, claiming that it allows ‘extremists’ to spread ‘hate speech’.
“Don’t Be Intimidated” By The Censors – Tucker Carlson Urges Americans To Fight Back By ‘Telling The Truth’
Published
5 days ago
on
25 September, 2023
Zero Hedge
Screenshot
In a brief clip of him speaking in Utica, MI, Tucker Carlson expresses his deep concern over widespread acceptance of dishonesty in public life, lamenting, “what’s true? The true things are the things that you can’t say.”
The former Fox News man rages at the lack of penalties for public figures who lie or display incompetence; contrasting this with the societal backlash against those who aim to speak their own truths, suggesting that in today’s society, “the only penalty is for noting what’s true.”
“Every society penalizes something…” In America, “it’s telling the truth.”
Drawing a parallel with foreign (banana republic) governments, Carlson recounts a recent experience in Buenos Aires that exposed the government’s dishonesty about the Argentine peso’s exchange rate. He emphasizes, “so the government lies about the value of its own currencies,” reflecting on the economic lies and falsehoods and manipulations (think non-farm payrolls jobs data revised lower every month this year for instance) of the US government.
Further into the speech, he points out the pattern of backlash he believes truth-tellers face, noting, “first they’ll tell you you’re hurting someone’s feelings… then they call you insane… the third thing they do is just criminalize telling the truth.”
He raises concerns about the role of significant U.S. institutions like the FBI and CIA, alleging they are partisan, and mentions, “when federal employees… take an aggressive position on the side of one political party, you can’t have a fair election.”
Lastly, he touches upon the 2020 U.S. presidential election, suggesting potential irregularities and fraud, blasting tech oligarchs’ influence in silencing the truth-sayers.
“If some oligarchs… spent nearly half a billion dollars to control the mechanics of the Bolivian election in 2020, we would say it’s not a legitimate election.”
Tucker closes by encouraging Americans to stand up against the censors: “don’t let them,” he exclaims, urging listeners“don’t be intimidated, your children’s future depends on your bravery.”
The media assured us claims Brand was the subject of a coordinated political attack were baseless “conspiracy theories”.
Now the political class, the media and literally *the government*, is carrying out a coordinated political attack to unperson him from all public platforms.