TOKYO, August 29. /TASS/. Indonesia is weighing blocking the Telegram messenger and the live-streaming app Bigo Live due to allegations of spreading porn and promoting gambling on the Internet, Jakarta Globe quoted the Asian country’s Communications and Informatics Minister Budi Arie Setiadi as saying.
While the ministry has already issued strong warnings to both platforms, Budi Arie dismissed the responses from Telegram and Bigo Live as "inadequate."
"I would prefer to shut down Bigo Live and Telegram immediately, but a team needs to conduct further studies first," the minister said on Wednesday.
The minister’s statement comes after Telegram founder Pavel Durov was arrested at Le Bourget Airport on August 24. On Wednesday, a Paris court accused Durov of six of the 12 offenses previously announced. These include a refusal to cooperate with the authorities, child pornography, drug trafficking, and fraud. The entrepreneur was granted bail on the condition that he pay 5 mln euros ($5.6 mln), report to police twice a week, and not leave France.
French President Emmanuel Macron said the move was not political. Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the position of France on the issue shows that Paris had trampled on the values and the freedom of speech it once advocated.