The government has launched an investigation into the Telegram messaging app over its alleged misuse in criminal activities such as extortion and gambling and could lead to a ban in India depending on the probe’s findings, according to a report by Moneycontrol.
This development comes only days after Telegram’s founder and CEO Pavel Durov, 39, was arrested in Paris on August 24 over the app’s moderation policies.
According to French officials, the Telegram founder was arrested over moderation policies.
France has brought a number of charges against Telegram, including drug trafficking, “sharing pornographic images of minors”, organised crime, promoting terrorism, and fraud.
The French authorities have been investigating the lack of moderators on the texting app. According to officials, such circumstances allow for undetected criminal conduct.
Meanwhile, a report by PTI report mentioned that, “In light of what has happened in France, the IT Ministry has asked the Ministry of Home Affairs to check on complaints pending against Telegram and what action can be taken”.
In addition, the report citing sources said that the IT Ministry is not an investigating agency in this regard, and its CERT-In division focuses on cybersecurity offenses not cybercrime.
“The basic question here is are there any complaints, is there similar situation in India, and what is the status, and what action is required,” PTI quoted the sources as saying.
Recent years have seen Telegram and other social media platforms become breeding grounds for criminal activity, including scams costing citizens crores of rupees.
Recently, there was controversy surrounding Telegram over UGC-NEET, which led to student protests and a Supreme Court intervention. Apparently, Telegram, an encrypted messaging app, was used to spread the leaked question papers for the medical entrance exam.