Amsterdam officials banned from using Telegram

The municipality of Amsterdam has banned its employees from using the messaging app Telegram on work phones due to concerns over criminal activities and the risk of espionage associated with the platform. The ban, which took effect at the end of April, was not publicly announced at the time.

A spokesperson for Amsterdam’s IT alderman, Alexander Scholtes, described Telegram as a "safe haven for hackers, cybercriminals, and drug dealers," highlighting the city's concerns about the potential misuse of the app.

Earlier this year, the Dutch Parliament considered a nationwide ban on Telegram, but then-Justice Minister Dilan Yeşilgöz decided against it, citing concerns about infringing on free speech.

Telegram, with nearly a billion users globally and almost 2 million in the Netherlands, is the largest app to be banned by a Dutch authority since TikTok was prohibited on government devices last year.