Telegram’s Criminal Use Spotlighted After CEO’s Arrest

The recent arrest of Telegram’s CEO has put the platform’s criminal connections in the spotlight.

The messaging app has become the “premiere” platform for people seeking weapons, stolen data, illegal drugs and child sexual abuse material, the Wall Street Journal reported Sunday (Sept. 8), citing interviews with law-enforcement officials and cybercrime researchers.

The report notes that the platform — which combines messaging and social networking — is easy to use, claims it has never revealed user data to any third party, and has a “laissez-faire approach” to content moderation.

Last month, authorities in France arrested Pavel Durov, the Russian-born billionaire who founded Telegram, charging him with complicity in distributing child pornography, illegal drugs and hacking software on the app, as well as with refusing to cooperate with investigations into illegal activity on the platform.

The company issued a statement saying it abides by European laws, including the Digital Services Act, and that its moderation is in keeping with industry standards.

“It is absurd to claim that a platform or its owner are responsible for abuse of that platform,” the company wrote on X. “Almost a billion users globally use Telegram as means of communication and as a source of vital information. We’re awaiting a prompt resolution of this situation. Telegram is with you all.”

Durov told the WSJ that while Telegram wasn’t perfect it was not a “sort of anarchic paradise,” adding that the company was willing to hold dialogue with regulators.

The report — citing chat records and researchers — says that drug traffickers, pedophile rings and identity thieves use Telegram as a “shop window” to sell their wares, with one channel advertising a stream of passports, ID cards and selfies that fraudsters could use to open bogus bank accounts. This channel was removed when the WSJ questioned Telegram for the article.

PYMNTS examined the ease with which criminals can steal a person’s identity earlier this year in a conversation with Bryan Lewis, CEO of Intellicheck. The raw materials are surprisingly cheap. Criminals and crime rings can purchase names, addresses, Social Security numbers and emails for $30 to $40.

At the same time, Lewis noted, treating everyone like a criminal is bad for business. The key, he added, is to let people prove their identities in the simplest way.

“If you can tell that a government-issued ID is real, that’s the most important step,” Lewis said. “After that, you can use the face or something else, because now we’ve tied a face or voice to an identity — and you can create an immutable token.”