Telegram Banned in Amsterdam: Cybercrime Concerns Trigger Action
The authorities in Amsterdam have imposed a ban on the use of the Telegram messenger on the work phones of municipal employees. This was reported by the Dutch radio station BNR. The ban was implemented back in April, but it was not publicly disclosed.
The reason for the ban lies in concerns over the potential criminal use of the application and the possible risk of espionage. In an interview with BNR, Amsterdam municipal representative Alexander Scholtes referred to Telegram as a haven for hackers, and cybercriminals.
Amsterdam has become the first city in the Netherlands to enforce such a ban. Other municipalities have yet to follow suit. In September, Amsterdam council member Fatia Abdi from the PvdA party even proposed considering a nationwide ban on Telegram, arguing that the app is used to recruit vulnerable teenagers into terrorist groups.
Last year, Dutch intelligence warned of the threat of espionage from applications developed in countries with “aggressive cyber programs,” including Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea. The Dutch Ministry of the Interior maintains a confidential list of the most dangerous applications that are prohibited from being installed on the work phones of government employees. This list already includes the Russian social network VKontakte and Chinese e-commerce apps Temu and AliExpress.
The ban on the use of Telegram in Amsterdam will affect nearly two million users of the app in the Netherlands. It is the largest restriction on the use of an application since the nationwide ban on TikTok on work phones was implemented last year. Meanwhile, the messenger boasts nearly a billion users worldwide.
