Bahrain Mirror: Bahrain Watch said that it recently received reports that some users in Bahrain were having trouble accessing Telegram, a mobile phone and computer app that allows users to exchange private messages, and also create and join public channels where messages may be disseminated more widely.

Bahrain Watch said that they also noted at least 20 public English language tweets from June 2016 indicating issues accessing Telegram in Bahrain. Many of the tweets tagged the official @telegram or @telegram_arabic accounts, but none has apparently received any response from Telegram.

The reports of disrupted Telegram service in Bahrain left open the question of who was responsible: Bahraini ISPs, Telegram itself, or another ISP on the path between Bahrain and Telegram?

"We performed testing on five Bahraini ISPs, and confirmed that three ISPs, Batelco, Viva, and Zain, are blocking Telegram inside their networks. We did not observe any Telegram blocking on two other ISPs we tested: Menatelecom and 2Connect," noted the rights group.

"Since Batelco, Viva, and Zain are the only providers of mobile phone services in Bahrain, and the blocking does not appear to be in their financial interest, we suspect that the government may have requested the blocking," it added.

Bahrain Watch further stated that they examined a Twitter search for "telegram.me bahrain" to get an idea of which groups in Bahrain were advertising public Telegram channels to their Twitter followers. They found that many prominent independent media and opposition groups have Telegram channels, including Al-Wasat newspaper, Bahrain Mirror, February 14 Youth Coalition, LuaLua TV, the suspended Al-Wefaq party, the Progressive Democratic Tribune party, the Wa'ad party, and the dissolved Islamic Olamaa council, as well as several village protest groups, including groups in the villages of Shahrakan, Sanabis, Muharraq, Bani Jamra, A'ali, Ma'ameer, Saar, Sitra, and Abu Saiba.

"We were unable to identify significant usage of Telegram's public channels by other constituencies, such as pro-government groups, or Sunni groups.  We did note a small number of miscellaneous Telegram channels that appear to originate in Bahrain, such the Sunni Waqf's channel, and a channel to talk about amateur radio in Bahrain," the report further read.

The report found that Telegram's public channel feature appears to be primarily used by dissidents, and this may be the reason for the blocking.  It also noted that there have been no reported disruptions to other mobile messaging apps popular in Bahrain, such as WhatsApp.  WhatsApp, however, does not offer an analog to Telegram's public channel feature, and WhatsApp may be used by a broader cross-section of Bahraini society than Telegram.

When an app or website is popular among both dissidents and others (e.g., Twitter), a government may anger non-dissidents by blocking the app or website outright.  This anger could result in political costs for the government.  Perhaps, in this case, the government believes that Telegram is not sufficiently popular among non-dissidents to result in significant political costs.

For encrypted messaging, Bahrain Watch recommends WhatsApp or Signal instead of Telegram., adding that those who wish to enjoy Telegram's public channels may use a VPN to circumvent the Telegram blocking.

In closing, Bahrain Watch noted that it is possible that Telegram is only blocked in the geographic areas of Bahrain that they tested from. The need for further testing is indicated.  Anyone that is able to successfully use Telegram on a mobile data connection should contact bill@bahrainwatch.org with details.

Arabic Version