Technology
Telegram is reportedly being “flooded” with illegal and extremist activity
AND New York Times Analysis More than 3.2 million Telegram messages from 16,000 channels show that the messaging platform has been “flooded” with illegal and extremist activity.
More specifically, the Times found that there have been 1,500 channels run by white supremacists, two dozen channels selling guns and at the very least 22 channels promoting the sale of MDMA, cocaine, heroin and other drugs.
The company’s founder and CEO, Pavel Durov, was arrested in France last month. Authorities accused Durov of engaging in illegal activity on the platform on account of Telegram’s lack of content moderation.
The platform subsequently updated its website to permit reporting of abuse, and Durov posted on his Telegram channel arguing that “using pre-smartphone era laws to accuse a CEO of crimes committed by third parties on the platform he manages is a flawed approach.”