Telegram channel run by teenager blocked in Italy over ISIS propaganda

Italian law enforcement authorities blocked on Saturday a Telegram channel dubbed “Khalifah News Italy” run by an Italian teenager of Algerian origin over the spread of ISIS terrorist group’s propaganda and calls for terrorist attacks.

According to the country’s law enforcement agencies, the Telegram channel came into focus of police of Friuli-Venezia Giulia region back in December 2016. The investigation was supervised by a special counter-cyberterrorism unit, which discovered that an Italian minor of Algerian origin was behind the propaganda.

Given the age of the suspect, the minor has been ordered to undergo a process of de-radicalization, with the help of psychologists and an Imam.

Telegram’s management has repeatedly come into quarrels with official authorities. In September 2017, Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov said that FSB had notified him of the messenger’s violation of an anti-terrorism law, which obliges companies to provide security agencies with access to the encrypted communications of users. In October, it was reported that a Moscow court fined Telegram 800,000 rubles ($14,000) for its refusal to provide the FSB with the required information.

Source: Sputnik