After flying all the way from Berlin to Jakarta to hold a closeddoor 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.

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