Pavel Durov (Courtesy of Communication and Information Ministry)

After flying all the way from Berlin to Jakarta to hold a closed-door meeting with Communications and Information Minister Rudiantara, Telegram CEO Pavel Durov finally convinced the authorities to lift the block on the messaging service application he founded, which is believed to be popular among local jihadists.

Durov told a joint press conference after meeting Rudiantara at the latter’s office on Tuesday that Telegram would retain its unique privacy feature, but would allow Indonesian authorities to directly report terror-related content to Telegram headquarters.

Such a mechanism would expedite the process of shutting down Telegram channels that are used by terrorists to spread their violent ideology and plot terror attacks.

Normally, it takes 24 to 36 hours to shut down a Telegram channel alleged to have been used by terrorist groups. That time has been reduced to only several hours as Telegram now has Indonesian speakers working for them, Durov said.

“As a public communication tool that is similar to Twitter, YouTube and so on, we also feel a responsibility and obligation to tackle content related to terrorism and other things like that,” the Russian enterpreneur said.

“We’re hoping to increase the speed at which we can identify such content. And now we have some members in our team that can speak Indonesian,” he added.

The ministry welcomed Telegram’s offer, saying it would soon unblock the application.

“We will unblock it in the near future. We are seeking a good day this week, soon after we resolve everything,” the ministry’s director general for information applications, Samuel Abrijani Pangarepan, said.

Upon receiving a request from the National Police, the ministry blocked the web version of the encrypted instant-messaging application on July 14 after collecting evidence that the app had been widely used by local terrorists to communicate and spread radical ideologies in Indonesia.

The ministry said it had found many channels on Telegram promoting radicalism, terrorism, hate speech and giving instructions to people on how to construct bombs and carry out terrorist attacks. It threatened to implement a complete ban if the communication service continued to act as a forum for terrorists to communicate and exchange ideas.

National Police Chief Gen. Tito Karnavian said the application was a threat to national security because it offered an end-to-end encryption feature that would prevent even its developers from snooping on messages — a perfect facility for terrorist groups.

Durov emphasized that he would not open the encryption key for the Indonesian government, even if Indonesia was one of the largest users of Telegram. He mentioned that around 20,000 new users from Indonesia signed up for Telegram every day.

“The principle of Telegram is 100 percent privacy and encryption. This is why this company exists. The only reason I came here today is to discuss the identification and shutting down of channels related to terrorism. Encryption is not something to be discussed here.

The privacy policy and terms and conditions we have are applied globally. We’re not going to make any specific exceptions for countries, even for such a beautiful country as Indonesia,” Durov said.

“As I heard, here in Indonesia the privacy of communication is defended under the constitution. So, I don’t think there will be any problems for Telegram to continue operating in the country, while maintaining our strict privacy policy and providing security for users.”

Rudiantara praised Durov for his willingness to come to the ministry to solve the matter, saying that the meeting would help find a good solution for the Indonesian people and the Telegram company.

“We really hope we can all access the application again. This has become a concern for both of us,” he said.

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