Akhmed Dudaev, Minister of National Policy, Press and Information of the Chechen Republic, stated that blocking Telegram in the republic is unjustified and irrational.
He pointed out that information risks exist in other regions as well. Residents of Chechnya have the same right to receive and disseminate information as citizens of other regions of Russia.
If this is not a biased attitude, what is the reason for choosing the Chechen Republic specifically? How does the situation in the Chechen Republic differ from other subjects of Russia?
According to him, blocking the platform due to the actions of "individual provocateurs" is ineffective. Instead of introducing restrictions, he proposed developing a strategy to combat such phenomena within the platform itself.
The State Duma explained the blocking of Telegram in Chechnya and Dagestan by the fact that the messenger was used to coordinate riots in these regions. Anton Nemkin, a member of the State Duma Committee on Information Policy, stated that the decision could be reviewed if Telegram starts deleting extremist content in accordance with the new moderation rules.
Yuri Gamzatov, Minister of Digital Development of Dagestan, supported the blocking, explaining it by security considerations. He added that the decision to block was made at the federal level on the recommendation of law enforcement agencies after the riots in Makhachkala in October 2023, when the rioters used Telegram for communication.
Earlier, www1.ru reported that the State Duma called on Telegram to change the rules for content moderation.
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