Govt Launches Extortion And Gambling Probe Against Telegram

There are several crimes that take place everyday using various social media platforms and messaging applications. This has become a very common issue today. According to reports, the popular messaging app Telegram is likely to face increased scrutiny. The Government of India has currently started an investigation to find out about the criminal activities that are reportedly done through the application. A government official mentioned in a media report that the most common cases are extortion and gambling cases. According to the official, if these activities are confirmed in the probe, the government might ban the messaging app. This issue has come to light after the arrest of the application’s 39-year-old founder and CEO, Pavel Durov, in Paris on August 24. He was reportedly detained due to Telegram’s moderation policies, especially for failing to prevent criminal activities on the platform.

A government official mentioned in an interview with a news website, “The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and Home Ministry are investigating P2P communications on Telegram. They are particularly focusing on criminal activities like extortion and gambling.” He also mentioned that the application might get banned depending on the findings of the probe.

The application has also commented on the arrest of its CEO. Writing on X (formerly Twitter) the company mentioned, “Telegram abides by EU laws, including the Digital Services Act — its moderation is within industry standards and constantly improving. Telegram’s CEO Pavel Durov has nothing to hide and travels frequently in Europe. It is absurd to claim that a platform or its owner is responsible for the abuse of that platform.”

The billionaire was reportedly arrested at the Bourget airport in Paris on August 24. Pavel Durov was flying on his private jet from Azerbaijan when the French official arrested him as a part of a preliminary police investigation, according to media reports.

Telegram, based in Dubai, was founded by Russian-born Pavel Durov. According to Forbes, his net worth is 15.5 Billion dollars (approximately over Rs 1.2 lakh crore). He left Russia in 2014 after he refused to comply with the government’s demands to close down the communities that were run by the opposition wing on the platform.