Denmark wants to ban Telegram and Signal chat.

🇩🇰🇪🇺The country’s Minister of Justice, Peter Hummelgaard, said he would “really like” to block encrypted messaging services amid rapidly growing crime related to gangs.

Encrypted end-to-end (E2EE) messaging services have become so good that authorities are struggling to keep up. Swedish and Danish authorities complain that it is increasingly difficult to catch criminals as many use encrypted messaging services to reach newcomers – according to the Danish daily bt.dk.

The Justice Minister of Sweden said that members of criminal gangs hide under the protection of E2EE, undermining the ability of authorities to monitor the gangs.

Furthermore, apps like Telegram facilitate payments, allowing criminals to better organize themselves.

Meanwhile, Danish Justice Minister Hummelgaard suggested escalating pressure on E2EE providers with measures like geoblocking popular apps such as Signal, Telegram, and WhatsApp to prevent criminals from enjoying digital refuge.

Interestingly, investigative journalists from the Danish frihedsbrevet.dk discovered that at least 70 members of the Danish parliament themselves use encrypted messaging services. Ironically, Hummelgaard was among the users of those E2EE platforms whose banning he proposed.