Telegram Boss CEO Pavel Durov Refused To Join Child Protection Schemes
Telegram boss CEO Pavel Durov was arrested in France a couple of days ago. He has refused to implement international programs of child protection on Telegram messaging applications. This program detects the child abuse content or material that is posted online by someone.
Since the day of inception, this app has not taken part in any schemes like; National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) and the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF). These programs find, file reports, and remove unethical content or material from the internet.
Telegram has over 950 million active users. Its founder is still under investigation in France, as he was arrested there. Pavel Durov is billionaire and he was charged for offenses for not having a proper moderation on his founded social platform.
According to official sources, he was accused of not cooperating with law agencies for drug trafficking, child sexual content and fraud allegations.
Telegram denies to work with the Internet Watch Foundation as well. It is the UK body that is compared with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC).
In an interview, IWF said: “Despite attempts to proactively engage with Telegram for over one year, they are not members of IWF and do not take any of our services to block, prevent, and dispute the sharing of child sexual abuse imagery.”
Since they are not part of IWF and NCMEC, Telegram is not complying with the rules of removal and blocking the content, which is confirmed as CSAM.
BBC also tried to get in contact with Telegram upon their refusal to sign up for the child protection schemes. Their response is mentioned below.
“Telegram will not take part in the takedown program that takes down and removes the revenge p**n.
All other social platforms like Snapchat, Facebook, Instagram, threads, and p**nhub is part of the program which compiles the list of hashes and scans all the images and videos of their public and unencrypted platforms.
There is a way of reporting transparency, and Telegram refused to implement the normal process.
All other social platforms release the list of the content, which is not according to the program policies.
Telegram does not have any website for this kind of report. They only have a channel, which does not have a media library. Telegram has never given any responses to the authorities for the transparency reports and always said, “There is no report available for your region.”
Instead, they have an automatic bot in place to reply to such inquiries or requests. This bot has not replied in months for the request that was sent to Telegram. Only one reply was sent in an article.
There are 30 engineers to manage the system, Pavel Durov told this to a journalist, Tucker Carlson.
Telegram owner CEO Pavel Durov was born in Russia and is now residing in Dubai. He has multiple nationalities, such as Russia, France, the United Arab Emirates, and St. Kitts and Nevis.
Telegram is a very famous application, mostly popular in Russia, Ukraine, the Soviet Union, and Iran.
CEO Pavel Durov is still in the custody of French law enforcement and is continuously refusing to join the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) and the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF).
Conclusion
Pavel Durov, the CEO of Telegram, has recently faced legal challenges in France related to his refusal to implement international child protection schemes. Telegram, under Durov’s leadership, has consistently opted out of programs such as the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) and the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), which are designed to detect and remove harmful content, including child sexual abuse material (CSAM). Despite repeated attempts by these organizations to collaborate, Telegram has not participated in their services. This stance has led to allegations against Durov for inadequate moderation and non-cooperation with law enforcement, exacerbating the scrutiny on Telegram’s policies and practices.
Why did Pavel Durov refuse to join child protection schemes like NCMEC and IWF?
Pavel Durov and Telegram have consistently refused to participate in child protection schemes such as the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) and the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF). Durov has cited privacy and security concerns, arguing that joining these programs could compromise user confidentiality. Additionally, Telegram’s stance on decentralization and minimal content moderation has contributed to their reluctance to engage with these organizations.
What are the implications of Telegram’s refusal to participate in these programs?
Telegram’s refusal to join NCMEC and IWF has led to criticisms regarding the platform’s handling of harmful content, particularly child sexual abuse material (CSAM). The lack of participation means that Telegram does not benefit from or contribute to the extensive databases and detection systems these organizations use to identify and remove abusive content. This has raised concerns about the platform’s effectiveness in moderating such material and its overall commitment to online safety.
How has Pavel Durov’s legal situation in France affected Telegram?
Pavel Durov’s arrest in France and the subsequent legal issues have heightened scrutiny on Telegram’s policies and practices. Durov faces charges related to inadequate content moderation and non-cooperation with law enforcement. This situation has intensified the debate over Telegram’s role in preventing and addressing illegal activities on its platform, and has put additional pressure on the company to reconsider its stance on child protection and content moderation.
2 thoughts on “Telegram Boss CEO Pavel Durov Refused To Join Child Protection Schemes: A Continued Refusal ”