Editorial: Telegram tumbles

Pavel Durov, the founder-CEO of Telegram, who was freed from custody this week after being arrested in Paris, was handed preliminary charges on Wednesday for permitting criminal activities on the messaging app. Western governments have criticised Telegram for a lack of content moderation, which opens up the platform for potential misuse in money laundering, drug trafficking and the sharing of material linked to the sexual exploitation of minors. The platform refused to share data or documents with investigators when required by law, a violation for which the platform had been pulled up before.

In 2022, Germany issued fines to the tune of $5 million against Telegram's operators for failing to establish a lawful way to report illegal content or to name an entity in Germany to receive official communication. Both are required under German laws regulating online platforms. Telegram has come under the scanner of law enforcement agencies and national governments, especially those in the European Union, that have intensified pressure on Big Tech companies to address disinformation, online extremism, child safety and the spread of illicit material.

As a fallout, India’s Information Technology Ministry asked the Ministry of Home Affairs for an update on where things stand in the national context, and if there are any violations here as well. It was pointed out that the IT Ministry is not an investigating agency in such regard, and that even CERT-In (under the Ministry) focuses on cybersecurity offences not cybercrimes per se. Telegram, which is now approaching one billion users worldwide, is a bigger social media platform than Twitter (X). Capable of hosting groups with up to 2,00,000 users and armed with broadcasting features, the app is particularly popular in countries like Ukraine, Brazil, Indonesia, Russia, and India, which by the way has the most number of users.

Remember, Telegram was the go-to option for most tech-savvy youngsters during the pandemic. Many users had learned to game the CoWin platform’s Application Programming Interface (API) and used Telegram to track the exact moment that vaccination slots opened up at the nearby public health centre, thereby gaining an unfair advantage over the rest of the population.

The team behind the app, which is blocked in China, Iran, Cuba, Thailand and Pakistan, in response to Durov’s arrest had said that Telegram abides by EU laws, and its moderation is “within industry standards and constantly improving.” It went on to say that “it is absurd to claim that a platform or its owner are responsible for abuse of that platform.” That is a loaded comment, seen in the Indian context as it invokes the idea of liability of intermediaries (social media/messaging apps).

Legal experts point out that such intermediaries can claim exemption from liability under the Information Technology Act and prevalent Rules only if these intermediaries had actual knowledge of the violation and had consequently initiated action on that accord. Section 79(3) of the IT Act, also informs us that an intermediary is not exempt from liability if it conspires, abets, aid or induces commission of an unlawful act, in any manner whatsoever; or omits, upon receipt of actual knowledge, to remove expeditiously or disable access to any unlawful content from its platform.

Just ask Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who disclosed how senior officials from the Biden administration had pressured Facebook to censor some satirical content pertaining to COVID, in an attempt to curb disinformation. It goes without saying that unless content moderation becomes non-negotiable in cyberspace, Durov’s detention might serve as nothing more than a slap on the wrist.