TheQuartering [1/26/2021]

I don’t know what else to say here. What an absurd reason to fire someone. This is heading a terrible direction.

According to Bloomburg:

A former U.S. ambassador wants Google to do to Telegram what it did to Parler.

Marc Ginsberg sued the Alphabet Inc. unit Monday, asking a California court to require it to remove the Telegram Messenger app from the Google Play Store because it facilitates violence, extremism and anti-Semitism.What to know in techGet insights from reporters around the world in the Fully Charged newsletter. Email By submitting my information, I agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Service and to receive offers and promotions from Bloomberg.

Telegram, especially in the wake of George Floyd’s killing and the inauguration of Joe Biden as president, has been used to threaten, encourage and coordinate racist violence, claims Ginsberg, who was Bill Clinton’s ambassador to Morocco. He pointed out that, after the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol, Google suspended Parler from its app store because a number of its right-wing users expressed support for the siege and further violence.

“Google has not taken any action against Telegram comparable to the action it has taken against Parler to compel Telegram to improve its content moderation policies,” Ginsberg’s suit says. He filed a similar complaint on Jan. 17 against Apple Inc., which had also pulled Parler from its app store after the riot.

Pavel Durov, Telegram’s founder, said last week that the company’s moderators had removed hundreds of posts in the wake of the Capitol riot and that calls for violence wouldn’t be tolerated.

“Telegram employs a robust moderation system,” the company said in a statement Tuesday. “As a part of the company’s longstanding commitment to anti-terrorism and combating abuse, Telegram collaborates with industry leaders, governments and policymakers worldwide by providing daily transparency reports,” as well as through the use of both automated and manual content monitoring.

Google didn’t respond to an emailed request for comment.