Turin prosecutors tell Telegram to block anti-vax chat

(ANSA) - ROME, SEP 6 - Turin prosecutors have told the Telegram messaging app to take down the anti-vaccine 'Basta Dittatura' (No More Dictatorship) chat, daily newspaper La Stampa reported on Monday.
    The chat is used by groups that are against vaccines and against the Green Pass COVID-19 vaccine passport.
    It was used to publish the telephone numbers of some government offices and of politicians and doctors that the anti-vax groups are hostile towards.
    The app has not yet responded to the prosecutors, according to the report.
    The prosecutors could issue an international warrant in relation to the order in the coming days, the report said.
    Politicians, journalists and health officials and experts have been threatened by anti-vax extremists in Italy and in some cases attacked.
    A top virologist, Matteo Bassetti, was recently accosted by a 46-year-old man who has been cited for issuing serious threats.
    The man reportedly came across Bassetti in the street and started following him, filming him on his phone and shouting at him: "You're going to kill all of us with these vaccines and we're going to make you pay".
    A video journalist from the La Repubblica daily was attacked by a protester at an anti-Green Pass sit-in outside the Education Ministry in Rome last week. And a pro-Green Pass teacher received a bullet in the mail. (ANSA).