Denmark wants to ban encrypted Telegram, Signal chats

The country’s Minister of Justice, Peter Hummelgaard, said he would “very much like” to block encrypted messaging services amidst skyrocketing gang-related crime.

End-to-end encrypted (E2EE) messaging services have become so good that authorities are scrambling to keep up. Authorities from Sweden and Denmark complain it has been getting harder and harder to catch up with criminals as many utilize encrypted messaging services to access new recruits, Denmark’s daily, bt.dk, reported.

According to Gunnar Strömmer, Sweden’s Minister of Justice, members of criminal gangs hide under the protection of E2EE, weakening authorities’ ability to monitor the gangs. Moreover, apps such as Telegram facilitate payments that allow criminals to better organize themselves.

Last week, the CEO of Telegram was detained in France for the app not cooperating with law enforcement regarding crimes such as child sexual abuse, drug trafficking, and fraud.

Meanwhile, Denmark’s Minister of Justice Hummelgaard suggested increasing the pressure on E2EE providers even further by geoblocking popular apps such as Signal, Telegram, and WhatsApp to prevent criminals from enjoying a digital safe haven.

Interestingly, investigative journalists at Denmark’s frihedsbrevet.dk discovered that at least 70 members of the Danish parliament use encrypted messaging services themselves. Ironically, Hummelgaard was among the users of E2EE platforms he proposed to ban.

Predictably, the minister’s suggestion to ban encrypted messaging sparked outrage, with Reddit users suggesting the minister make his own messaging history public.

“He could appropriately start by displaying all his own messages. Surely, he has nothing to hide, and therefore nothing to fear, right?” a Reddit user wrote in Danish.

While Hummelgaard’s comments may seem radical, Durov’s arrest and a recent European Union push to greenlight bulk searches of people’s private communications signals that authorities may want more transparency from platforms over the content they facilitate.

As Timothy Koskie, a researcher at the School of Media and Communications at the University of Sydney, pointed out, “There is a push to either hold the platforms responsible for illegal content or to provide details on the users that post it.”

For example, Telegram use surged in the United Kingdom after rioting began in the country this summer. Far-right extremists used the platform to organize further attacks on immigration-related sites.

Alexander Vindman, a key witness in the impeachment trial against former US President Donald Trump, noted, "There’s a growing intolerance for platforming disinformation and malign influence and a growing appetite for accountability.”