First France, now South Korea — Telegram’s authorized troubles are solely rising. Here is why

Following the current arrest of its founder in France, Telegram is now going through potential authorized troubles in South Korea.

The nation’s chief police investigator has introduced a preliminary investigation into the instant-messaging platform’s alleged position in abetting intercourse crimes, in line with a report from the native Yonhap Information Company. 

This comes towards the backdrop of South Korea’s efforts to sort out the unfold of deepfake pornography that has been concentrating on younger ladies, together with youngsters, within the nation.

The probe additionally poses one other main authorized problem to Telegram after its founder and chief govt, Pavel Durov, was arrested in France on Aug. 24 for alleged offenses associated to the messaging app. 

Durov, the 39-year-old Russian-born billionaire, was arrested by French authorities following a preliminary investigation into Telegram launched on July 8. 

Much like South Korea’s investigation, French authorities had been probing the platform’s position within the distribution of pornographic photos of minors, in addition to facilitating organized crime, drug trafficking and fraud. 

Durov was reportedly accused of failing to mitigate such felony actions on the platform. Telegram stated in a assertion posted on social media platform X that it abides by EU legal guidelines and that Durov had “nothing to hide.”

In response to Yonhap’s report on Monday, Woo Jong-soo, head of the Nationwide Workplace of Investigation, drew connections between their case and the one in France and stated there have been plans to collaborate with their French counterparts and different worldwide establishments. 

The investigation could possibly be difficult by the truth that Telegram doesn’t readily present investigation knowledge, resembling account info, to any state investigative our bodies, together with these within the U.S., Woo reportedly stated. 

Telegram’s refusal to share info with investigators when required by regulation has additionally been famous within the French investigation.  

Whereas Durov’s arrest has been seen as an unprecedented transfer, the platform has just lately confronted authorized points in different international locations, resembling Brazil and Germany, over considerations surrounding unlawful and dangerous content material.

Whereas Telegram has argued that its content material moderation practices are “inside trade requirements and consistently enhancing,” sure options of the platform have made it a selected goal of presidency scrutiny.

By solely requiring customers to supply a telephone quantity to register and providing the flexibility to carry end-to-end encrypted conversations by means of a “secret chats” characteristic, the app provides a excessive diploma of anonymity. 

These nameless options have lengthy attracted illicit actors resembling scammers and extremist teams to the platform. Now, in South Korea, they’re attracting distributors of deepfake porn. 

Deepfakes are movies, sounds, or photos of an actual particular person which have been digitally altered and manipulated. They’ve change into more and more outstanding amid the emergence of generative AI expertise. 

South Korean police are probing eight automated packages producing deepfake pornography for Telegram teams, together with chat rooms liable for circulating such content material, in line with Yonhap’s report. 

The investigations come amid stress on authorities to answer a rising variety of stories detailing how Telegram teams, some as massive as 220,000 members, have been used to share sexually exploitative deepfake photos of feminine college students from native universities, excessive colleges, and even center colleges. 

This isn’t the primary time Telegram has been on the middle of a intercourse crime scandal in South Korea. 

In 2020, South Korean authorities arrested a ringleader of a web-based community that used Telegram to blackmail and coerce ladies and kids into sharing express photos of themselves. No authorized motion was taken towards Telegram on the time.

In response to Durov’s arrest, Chris Beer, shopper and tech analyst at GWI, instructed CNBC’s “Avenue Indicators Europe” that it was unclear how far authorities could be keen to go in regulating and cracking down on Telegram, although different messaging and social media apps might additionally come underneath scrutiny.

Beer added that there stays a pressure between some shoppers’ need to have their freedom of speech protected and in addition authorities oversight to protect them from dangerous content material.