Telegram

Wikipedia coverage: Read the full Wikipedia article, including its references. The material below is the existing Deep Politics Wiki article.

Telegram is a social media service.

File:Telegram-icon.png

https://telegram.org/ link Wikiquote
Started: 14 August 2013
Founders: Nikolai Durov, Pavel Durov

Constitutes: Social medium, Alt Tech

Expression error: Unexpected > operator.

Telegram is a social medium and instant messaging (IM) platform. Founded by the Russian brothers Nikolai and Pavel Durov, who created it after the feds of Russia took over their first social media project, VKontakte.

Funding

The company was initially supported by founding CEO Pavel Durov's personal funds after the sale of his stake in VK. After that it collected $1.7 billion from investors such as Kleiner Perkins, Sequoia Capital, and Benchmark. In March 2024, Telegram sold an additional $330 million in bonds, making it more of a corporation.^[1]^[2]

Ads

In 2017, in an attempt to monetize Telegram, the company used crypto to to start a native cryptocurrency "Gram" and earn money from users.^[3] Telegram has stated that the company will never serve advertisements in private chats. They reversed that policy in 2021.^[4]

Wikispooks on Telegram

Wikispooks has had a Telegram presence since 2021. The first channel was banned on what seems to be a spurious "copyright claim". The present channel is https://t.me/Wikispooks1

Enemy image

Due to Telegram’s privacy reputation, along with its calls for free speech, the site has appeared in ccm for promotion of illegal child porn, murder and arms smuggling, in particular in enemy image countries so to speak, such as Iran, Russia and Turkey.^[5]^[6]^[7]

2019 Puerto Rico riots

Telegram was the main subject surrounding the 2019 Puerto Rico riots that ended up in the resignation of then-Governor Ricardo Rosselló. Hundreds of pages of a group chat between Rosselló and members of his staff were leaked. The messages were considered vulgar, racist, and homophobic, with members of the chat discussing how they would use the media to target potential political opponents.^[8]

Germany

File:Telegram-Germany.png

The establishment in Germany dislikes Telegram, as a spot of resistance, very much. Focusing on threats of violence and "hate" (which are no doubt to be found there). The screenshot by the Austrian television channel Auf1TV dates December 10th 2021 and is based on an insider message received shortly before by Eva Herman and Andreas Popp. The German government plans a media campaign, or even wants to restrict access to the platform (banning from app stores). A few days later the media campaign started.^[9]^[10]^[11]^[12]^[13]^[14]

In Germany, during and in the aftermath of Corona-related protests, Telegram came into the headlines for not cooperating enough with law enforcement.^[15]^[16]^[17] In early 2022 the Federal Ministry of the Interior wanted to intensify pressure on Telegram after threats against politicians and others were not processed and deleted.^[18]^[19] The Interior Ministry received an e-mail address from Google in February 2022 to which the company leadership finally replied.^[20]

By mid 2022 commercially-controlled media reports complained that Telegram only reliably works together with government authorities with respect to child abuse material and 'terrorism'.^[21]^[22] In September 2022 Telegram asked it's German users how to proceed in the matter.^[23] Reports from August 2024 indicate that law enforcement authorities still think of the cooperation as difficult.^[24]

RT is blocked on Telegram in Germany if downloaded from app stores, but is still possible to read if the app is downloaded direct from Telegram.Template:Cn

France

Pavel Durov, the founder of Telegram, was briefly detained in France in September 2024. Durov has agreed to remove the "People Nearby" feature, tighten the "moderation of content" (censorship), and disclose anonymous data of some users.^[25] Telgeram's cooperation with France's justice system after his arrest has resulted in other countries requesting information from the platform as part of "cybercrime investigation".^[26]

Russia

In August 2024, the Russian president signed into law a bill regulating the operation of instant messaging services. According to the law, the owners of Telegram channel owners with an audience over 10,000 will have to report data on themselves to the Russian telecoms watchdog Roskomnadzor in a form and scope determined by the government. The law bans any channel not included in Roskomnadzor's 10,000+ list to post advertising, distribute information about the possible funding of the channel and its owners, while other Telegram channels cannot repost its messages.^[27]

Videos

Watch on YouTube

Telegram Hands Over User Data to German Police - Mental Outlaw

Telegram on Wikispooks

References

[1] ttps://www.reuters.com/technology/telegram-secures-330-million-bond-sales-2024-03-18/

[2] ttps://www.ft.com/content/790d9506-0175-11e8-9650-9c0ad2d7c5b5

[3] ttps://drive.google.com/file/d/1ucUeKg_NiR8RxNAonb8Q55jZha03WC0O/view

[4] ttps://ads.telegram.org/getting-started

[5] ttps://thediplomat.com/2024/05/can-taiwan-block-telegram/

[6] ttps://m.economictimes.com/tech/technology/zero-tolerance-for-sexual-abuse-content-committed-to-removing-it-telegram-youtube/articleshow/104244921.cms

[7] ttps://www.wired.com/story/how-telegram-became-anti-facebook/

[8] ttps://periodismoinvestigativo.com/2019/07/the-889-pages-of-the-telegram-chat-between-rossello-nevares-and-his-closest-aides/

[9] ttps://wtvbam.com/2021/12/14/politician-says-germany-should-ban-telegram-unless-it-tackles-extremist-content/

[10] ttps://www.faz.net/aktuell/wirtschaft/telegram-wie-sich-der-hass-im-netz-stoppen-laesst-17684199.html

[11] ttps://www.spiegel.de/netzwelt/telegram-was-die-politik-gegen-die-gefaehrliche-chat-app-unternehmen-kann-a-7245e6fd-b057-41b9-9b50-69095458cd54

[12] ttps://www.basicthinking.de/blog/2021/12/14/telegram-verbieten/

[13] ttps://www.welt.de/politik/video235653508/Corona-Proteste-Bundesregierung-will-gegen-Social-Media-Plattform-Telegram-vorgehen.html

[14] ttps://www.gmx.net/magazine/digital/deutsche-politiker-verbot-messengerdienstes-telegram-36433880

[15] ttps://taz.de/Querdenker-Proteste-auf-Telegram/!5818216/

[16] ttps://www.cicero.de/querdenker-telegram-faeser-messenger-sachsen-kretschmer

[17] ttps://www.bka.de/DE/Presse/Listenseite_Pressemitteilungen/2022/Presse2022/220126_PM_Telegram.html

[18] ttps://www.deutschlandfunk.de/gefahr-telegram-was-kann-die-politik-dagegen-tun-100.html

[19] ttps://www.spiegel.de/netzwelt/apps/telegram-innenministerin-nancy-faeser-droht-mit-abschaltung-a-782c176b-37b3-4bf3-aaff-5855ca4af4c6

[20] ttps://www.rnd.de/politik/telegram-bundesinnenministerium-stellt-kontakt-zu-plattform-her-GKMJOCSP7ZFGHIOD5TGAKFENRM.html

[21] ttps://www.spiegel.de/netzwelt/apps/telegram-gibt-nutzerdaten-an-das-bundeskriminalamt-a-0e4d3fcb-8081-4b87-b062-db412bbc294b

[22] ttps://www.chip.de/news/Telegram-Daten-werden-nicht-an-Behoerden-gegeben-Nun-droht-wohl-Geldstrafe_184876463.html

[23] ttps://www.heise.de/news/Telegram-und-die-BKA-Umfrage-Es-gibt-gesetzliche-Regelungen-dazu-7248203.html

[24] ttps://www.heise.de/news/Telegram-Zusammenarbeit-mit-deutschen-Behoerden-variiert-stark-9853047.html

[25] ttps://iz.ru/en/1762692/2024-09-21/durovs-cooperation-investigation-france-has-provoked-inquiries-other-countries

[26] ttps://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/telegram-cooperation-with-france-led-to-requests-from-other

[27] ttps://interfax.com/newsroom/top-stories/104973/

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