53. How the Smartphone App “Telegram” is fueling the Hong Kong Protests
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| Source: Callbell |
The Hong Kong Protests have been dominating international headlines for the last five months. It has been termed as one of the most serious political crises since the former British colony’s handover to China in 19971. The protests started in June 2019 against the Fugitive Offenders and Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters Legislation (Amendment) Bill that would have allowed the extradition of fugitives from Hong Kong to mainland China for trial. Although the bill has been withdrawn, the protests have only widened, with demands for electoral reforms. In Hong Kong, the anti-government and anti-Beijing sentiments are on a rise.
As I write this
blog, more than 10000 people have joined the protests in Hong Kong. The
mobilization of such a large group of people has been made possible through the
use of the popular encrypted messaging app, Telegram. According to new data
from Sensor Towers, during the ongoing protests, Telegram gained about 110,000
new users in Hong Kong across the Apple App Store and Google Play. It was the
7th most downloaded app according to data by Bloomberg, and Telegram has been installed
1.7 million times in Hong Kong itself2. This highlights the
importance of mobile apps in political protests.
The six-year-old
Dubai-based Telegram app has enabled protesters to coordinate and spread
information about rallies and political marches. In a way, we are talking about
secret communication here. One of the major reasons as to why protesters are
resorting to apps like Telegram is because encrypted apps like Telegram
prevents police infiltration. It is also very difficult to monitor these groups
on telegram. So far, authorities have been unable to locate protesters.
Most of these
rallies are being organized on the app anonymously, which is why most of these
movements have been leaderless. Thousands of Hong Kong protesters take their
cues from more than 100 groups on Telegram. A ‘group’ in Telegram can have up
to 200,000 members, a feature that has been successfully exploited by the
protesters. The protesters share everything from news on upcoming protests to
tips on handling the police officials, or about the information on access codes
to a building. Most often protestors use pseudonyms so that the police cannot
trace them.
Telegram also
enables its users to search for other users by uploading phone numbers. This
allows users to know whether those in a phone’s contact number are already
using the app. Thus, Telegram’s unique security and privacy features have made
the app much more popular than WhatsApp and WeChat. Telegram also has a feature
called ‘secret chats’ which enables client to client encryption. All backups of
Telegram are not stored on any third-party servers, thus, destroying the
communication trail. The app has a timer-based self-destruct feature for
messages.
Surprisingly on
June 12, the Telegram messaging app was the target of alleged Chinese backed
cyber-attack. The app’s services were affected for an hour, its performance was
hampered and the servers were crippled. Although governments around the world
have pulled cyber-attacks on each other, this was perhaps the first time when
offensive capabilities were deployed against a company.
Telegram was
also successfully used in Iran during its anti-government protests in 2017-18.
Due to its security features, Telegram can also be used by terrorist groups to
carry out their propaganda. In fact, the Islamic State has used telegram to
coordinate terrorist and lone-wolf attacks, especially so in Europe. Hence,
today, many governments are taking action against Telegram. It has already been
banned in Russia and Iran. In fact, on August 28, 2019, the Hong Kong Internet
service providers association announced that the Hong Kong Government had plans
to block the app. Thus we see that Telegram is fighting a digital resistance
against government sanctions. The Unique Selling points for Telegram are the
reason as to why it is facing such resistance among the world governments,
especially so in Hong Kong.
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