Europe Censorship: Major Palestinian News Channels Banned on Telegram

Last week, several pro-Palestinian Telegram channels were blocked in European countries, including the “Palestine Archive  ” channel with more than 15,000 followers and the “Resistance News Network” (RNN) with more than 166,000 subscribers. The exact justification of the ban are not known. While Telegram did not respond to a journalistic request, the RNN said that there was no reason for the closure. Anyone who tries to open up the channel in the affected countries now will receive the notification that they cannot be not displayed because they “violate local laws”. RNN and the online outlet The Cradle have spoken of an EU-wide ban.

There have already been incidents of different countries blocking individual Telegram channels in the past. In some cases, pressure is exerted on Telegram directly, but sometimes it is also done via iOS and Android operating systems. Since October 2023, for example, the Telegram channels of Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), Samidoun and Palestine Solidarity Duisburg (Palestine Solidarity Duisburg) have been closed in Europe. Except for PIJ, all of these organizations were previously banned by state authorities. Nothing is known regarding a ban on RNN or Palestine Archive, not even whether it was an action by various EU member states or whether the blocking was promoted by an EU institution.

While the legal basis for the blocking remains unclear, the political reasons are obvious. RNN itself explained to Peoples Dispatch: “We believe RNN was banned because we shed light on the reality of resistance on the ground, which upends the mainstream zionist narrative.“

Meanwhile, Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov was arrested at Paris-Le Bourget airport just one day after these closures. The official justification is that Telegram does not proceed against online crime such as children’s pornography, weapons and drug trafficking. However, critics suspect Telegram’s role as the leading platform for the (comparatively) censorship-free dissemination of political and media content was a key motivating factor in his arrest.

Important source

Until now, the Resistance News Network had also benefited from the freedom of Telegram. RNN has existed since October 2022. The focus of the canal is to share news, updates, and statements on Palestinian resistance in its various forms. In the English channel, it shares breaking news from Palestine as well as statements and videos directly from various Palestinian resistance forces as well as reports on prisoners and martyrs.

As a result, the RNN has become an important source of information since October 7 for English-speaking users. The channel had only a few thousand followers before the Israeli genocide on Gaza and the number has increased more than tenfold in the last eleven months. In addition, the channel is increasingly used by international media as a source. After Instagram has repeatedly blocked the RNN account, the News Network is now only present on Telegram.

Who’s next?

Public reactions to the ban on RNN have been relatively limited for the moment. The Kufiya-Netzwerk (Kufiya Network), an alliance that seeks to fight against the reduction of fundamental rights in connection with Palestine in Germany, criticized the RNN ban in a statement and raised suspicions that the ban was a German initiative. It affirmed: “Regardless of who ultimately took the initiative, the fact remains that this is yet another massive attack on pro-Palestinian voices in Germany and across Europe…The channel is an important source of information not only for many people around the world, but also for international media. This source has now been taken away from people in Germany and the EU.”

The Cradle also put the closure into a larger political context. It shared in its own Telegram channel: “In just two weeks: The Cradle was banned by Meta (Facebook, Instagram). Resistance News Network (RNN)’s Telegram channel was banned in the EU. Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov was arrested at Bourget Airport in France for ‘lack of moderation’ that allegedly allowed for criminal activity to take place… Journalist Richard Medhurst was arrested at Heathrow Airport under the UK Terrorism Act. Who/what will be next?”

In the meantime, the RNN can be reached in the EU again: the operators have set up a backup channel a few hours after the ban. It remains to be seen how long it will take for this too to be blocked. The example of Russia Today shows that it is quite possible to avoid Telegram channel closures. However, it is unclear whether this could change in the future with the arrest of Durov.