The narrative promoted by the bloc that private groups on the platform are a problem is \u201ccrazy,\u201d the Telegram founder has said<\/p>\n
The EU is relying on non-governmental organizations, bankrolled by billionaire financier George Soros, as well as controlled media to justify its push for more online surveillance and censorship, Telegram founder Pavel Durov has said.
\nOn Wednesday, state-owned broadcaster France 24 reported on a study by NGO AI Forensics that said nearly 25,000 users in Spanish and Italian Telegram groups had shared thousands of images of naked women, often in exchange for money, while also engaging in doxxing and harassment of women.
\nThe study said the images and videos were sourced from platforms such as TikTok and Instagram, with Telegram acting as \u201ca hub\u201d for organizing and circulating abusive content.
\nIt added the platform\u2019s privacy features such as end-to-end encryption and paid access to channels enabled abusive behavior to develop with a high degree of security and impunity.
\nAI Forensics blamed Telegram for failure to clampdown on such groups and advised the EU to classify it as a \u201cvery large online platform\u201d (VLOP), which allows for stricter oversight under the bloc\u2019s Digital Services Act (DSA).<\/p>\n
Read more<\/p>\n
Durov calls France \u2018not free\u2019 as agents raid Musk office<\/p>\n
In his response to the France 24 article on Thursday, Durov described as \u201ccrazy\u201d the suggestion that his platform \u201cis a PROBLEM because people can discuss content from OTHER social media in PRIVATE Telegram groups.\u201d
\nHowever, the narrative by AI Forensics, which is \u201ca Soros-funded contractor to the European Commission,\u201d is being widely distributed by the press, including \u201cglobalist outlets\u201d like El Pais, Der Spiegel and Wired along with French media, he said in a post on Telegram.
\n\u201cI doubt anyone still takes these organizations seriously \u2013 most of them lost people\u2019s trust during the COVID era. But it\u2019s important to call out all such attempts at public manipulation, because they are used to take away what’s left of our freedoms,\u201d the Russian-born tech mogul stressed.
\nDurov is currently facing legal proceedings in France after being arrested and spending several days behind bars in Paris in 2024 on allegations that Telegram failed to deter criminal activity on the platform. The entrepreneur maintains that his prosecution is politically motivated.<\/p>\n
READ MORE: Telegram founder Durov investigated in terrorism-related probe \u2013 Kremlin<\/p>\n
In February, the Russian authorities said Telegram and Durov were being investigated over alleged mass violations of law and refusal to stop terrorism-related activities on the platform. The same month, Russia\u2019s communications watchdog announced that it has begun slowing down Telegram in the country over its reluctance to remove content that is deemed illegal by Moscow.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The narrative promoted by the bloc that private groups on the platform are a problem is \u201ccrazy,\u201d the Telegram founder has said The EU is relying on non-governmental organizations, bankrolled…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":32887,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32886","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-environment","category-politics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t