If there is such a big problem with content moderation that it is actually criminally relevant … why hasn’t that been addressed under the DSA yet
An online platform of that importance with that large user base, even if it isn’t officially designated a VLOP, is just way too important in order to operate with that level of opaqueness,
It is purely a criminal investigation at national level, carried out by the French authorities … based on French criminal law,
We are now checking whether the figure is right,
France is deeply committed to freedom of expression and communication, to innovation, and to the spirit of entrepreneurship. It will remain so,
If I were to touch that analogy of the car, I would say the question is the extent to which the taxi driver is complicit in giving a ride to the bank robber,
It could be that, within the investigation, there is a much more personal tie to the situation than exists at any other platform, in which case this organisation has simply crossed a line that no other platforms have, but the line was always there,
That threat of personal sanction is much more effective on executives than the risk of corporate fines,
Knowledge is the key issue here,
It is encouraging to see the French government, French police, taking some action to potentially rectify this type of activity,
Moderators use a combination of proactive monitoring of public parts of the platform, AI tools, and user reports to remove content that breaches Telegram’s terms of service,
Telegram’s moderation practices are completely opaque — we really have no sense of how they operate. Likewise, we receive no confirmation or feedback from the company on the moderation outcome when we do report content into them. More importantly, it does not appear the platform itself is taking adequate proactive steps to curb the spread of CSAM on their service despite its known use for facilitating the exchange of this type of material,
They’ve been really, really clear on the team that they have no interest. We sporadically reach out, but it’s not frequent anymore,
Telegram is truly in a league of their own as far as their lack of content moderation or even interest in preventing child sexual exploitation activity on their platform,
Based on our observations, Telegram’s platform is increasingly being used to make CSAM available to offenders. In many cases, we see Telegram links or accounts advertised on web forums and even on U.S.-based mainstream social media platforms that act as a funnel to drive traffic to illegal Telegram-based content,
Pavel Durov is a political prisoner—a victim of a witch-hunt by the West,
To be truly free, you should be ready to risk everything for freedom,
Privacy, ultimately, is more important than our fear of bad things happening, like terrorism,
Durov might be forced to cooperate with the authorities in France and the U.S., who have long wanted to get inside Telegram. It's crucial to understand that Telegram is no longer just a messenger like it was before. It has grown into a giant ecosystem with an internal wallet and its own cryptocurrency. Many people are eager to get a piece of this lucrative pie. The state has been trying for a long time to expand its monopoly over how people communicate, what they say, and how they spend their money,
I think Telegram will continue to operate, and its cryptocurrencies will survive—I certainly hope so. But the world is becoming increasingly closed off and less free, and that’s a reality we have to face,