Amsterdam municipality bans Telegram on work phones over criminal use, espionage threat

The municipality of Amsterdam has banned its civil servants from using the chat app Telegram on their work phones over the criminal activities on the app and the risk of espionage, a spokesperson confirmed to BNR. The city implemented the ban at the end of April but did not publicly communicate about it.

Telegram is a “safe haven for hackers, cybercriminals, and drug dealers,” a spokesperson for Amsterdam’s IT alderman Alexander Scholtes told the broadcaster. The city is also concerned about possible espionage through the app, even though it no longer has official ties to Russia. Telegram was set up in Russia, but the head office has since moved to Dubai, and the company is officially located in the Virgin Islands.

As far as is known, no other municipalities have banned Telegram, though there are nationwide concerns about the app. It’s made headlines multiple times in recent years due to drug and firearm trade, child pornography, revenge porn shared on “expose” groups, and young people being recruited to place explosives. Parliament discussed a possible ban early this year, but then-Justice Minister Dilan Yeşilgöz said that it would be too great an infringement of freedom of expression.

Last year, the intelligence service AIVD warned of espionage threats from apps originating in countries “with an offensive cyber program.” It mentioned Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea as examples. According to BNR, the Ministry of Home Affairs maintains a list of the “most risky” apps that are not allowed on civil servants’ work phones. Last year, NOS reported that the Russian app VKontakte and the Chinese shopping apps Temu and AliExpress are on that list.

Telegram has no clear ties with these countries. “Founder Pavel Durov is Russian, but he was almost forced to leave Russia,” Maastricht University lecturer Mariëlle Wijermans told BNR. Durov says that a conflict with the Kremlin over access to Ukrainians’ user data was the reason for his departure.

Telegram has nearly a billion users worldwide, including nearly 2 million in the Netherlands. It is the biggest app banned by a Dutch authority since the national government banned TikTok on civil servants’ phones last year.