BERLIN Reuters -- Germany should remove the messaging programme Telegram from Apple's and Google's app stores if it continues to ignore requests to track down extremist content, a senior German official said on Tuesday.
Telegram has been blamed in Germany for promoting an increasingly virulent subculture of anti-vaccine conspiracy theorists who exchange news about supposed dangers and arrange protests that have spilled over into violence.
Platforms like Facebook have become more responsive to government pressure to crack down on those spreading lies, threats and conspiracy theories, because of the app, which says it does not bow to government censorship.
A group of protesters held a candle-lit gathering outside the home of the regional interior minister of Saxony last month, in what was widely seen as an implicit threat of violence against her.
Boris Pistorius, the regional interior minister of Lower Saxony, told Der Spiegel that Telegram groups and channels are in violation of the compliance rules of Apple and Google.
He said that we need to talk to them and persuade them to stop distributing Telegram.
Germany has strictest compliance rules for social media networks, so they are obliged to respond quickly to reports of extremist content.
Telegram, which was founded in St. Petersburg and is now based in Dubai, has not responded to requests for help with tracking authors of extremist content, according to its own website.
The app, which presents itself as a libertarian alternative to other messengers and social networks, has a devoted following among opposition activists in authoritarian countries such as Belarus and Russia, who value its seeming ability to sidestep state censorship.