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

Following the latest arrest of its founder in France, Telegram is now dealing with potential authorized troubles in South Korea.

The nation’s chief police investigator has introduced a preliminary investigation into the instant-messaging platform’s potential role in abetting intercourse crimes, based on a report from the native Yonhap Information Company. 

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

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

Just like South Korea’s investigation, French authorities had been probing the platform’s role 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 legal actions on the platform. Telegram stated in a statement posted on social media platform X that it abides by EU legal guidelines and that Durov had “nothing to cover.”

In accordance with 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 may very well be difficult by the truth that Telegram doesn’t readily present investigation information, equivalent to 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 legislation has additionally been famous within the French investigation.  

Whereas Durov’s arrest has been seen as an unprecedented transfer, the platform has not too long ago confronted authorized scrutiny in Brazil and Germany as properly over issues surrounding unlawful and dangerous content material.

Whereas Telegram has argued that its content material moderation practices are “within industry standards and constantly improving,” sure options of the platform have made it the middle of scrutiny globally.

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

These nameless options have lengthy attracted illicit actors equivalent to scammers and even 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 turn into more and more outstanding amid the emergence of generative AI expertise. 

South Korean police are probing eight automated applications producing deepfake pornography for Telegram teams, together with chat rooms chargeable for circulating such content material, based on Yonhap’s report. 

The investigations come amid elevated stress on authorities to answer a rising variety of reports detailing how Telegram teams, some as giant 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 such a scandal in South Korea. 

In 2020, South Korean authorities arrested a ringleader of an online network that used Telegram to blackmail and coerce ladies and youngsters into sharing sexually specific photos of themselves. No authorized motion was taken towards Telegram on the time.

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

Beer added that there stays a rigidity between shoppers’ want to have their freedom of speech protected and in addition authorities oversight to defend them from dangerous content material.