Janice R. Andrews
European Union (EU) officials are looking closely at Telegram, a famous chat app. They think the platform may have lied about its user numbers to avoid being regulated under the Digital Services Act (DSA). This investigation comes after Telegram’s CEO, Pavel Durov, was charged with crimes in France, which added to the company’s legal problems.
The EU’s Joint Research Center, which is in charge of technical probes, is looking into how many people actually use Telegram in the EU. Platforms with more than 45 million users in the EU are considered “very large online platforms” by the DSA, so this investigation is very important. Tougher rules apply to these platforms, such as more strict content filtering and having to share data with the European Commission.
The company recently gave vague numbers when it said it had “significantly fewer than 45 million average monthly active recipients in the EU.” Earlier, Telegram said it had 41 million users in the EU. EU officials think that this lack of openness could be a violation of the DSA. They also think that the real number of users may be higher than 45 million, which would mean Telegram would have to follow the tighter rules.
Thomas Regnier, a spokesman for the European Commission’s digital problems, stressed that the EU has its own ways of making sure that user data is correct. “We have a way through our own systems and calculations to determine how accurate the user data is,” he said. The review is still going on and aims to find out how big Telegram really is in the EU and if the company has been lying about its user base to avoid governmental scrutiny.
There will be big problems for Telegram if the review finds that it has more than 45 million users in the EU. If a company breaks the DSA, it can be fined up to six percent of its annual sales. The “very large online platform” label also means that the platform has to go through third-party checks and meet stricter compliance standards.
It’s not just this study that Telegram and its CEO are having trouble with the law. Pavel Durov was recently charged with several crimes in France, including helping to spread illegal information on the site. Durov was caught at an airport near Paris. He was given bail and told to stay in France and show up to the police twice a week while the probe goes on.
As the EU’s probe goes on, it’s still not clear what will happen with Telegram in the region. The result could mean that the site is closely watched, which would have a big effect on how it works in Europe.
