The European Commission is reportedly looking into the messaging app’s possible failure to provide accurate user data
The European Commission is investigating whether Telegram breached EU digital rules by failing to provide accurate user numbers, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday, citing sources.
The EU probe comes alongside the French government’s investigation into alleged criminal activity on the messaging platform that led to the arrest of Telegram CEO Pavel Durov. The 39-year-old was arrested upon landing at a Paris airport on Saturday after arriving by private jet from Azerbaijan. He has reportedly now been released from police custody and transferred to court for possible indictment.’ A decision was expected to be issued late on Wednesday.
Officials briefed on the EU probe told FT that the commission’s Joint Research Centre is conducting a technical investigation to determine Telegram’s number of EU users.
“We have a way through our own systems and calculations to determine how accurate the user data is,” said Thomas Regnier, commission spokesperson for digital issues. “And if we think that they haven’t been providing accurate user data, we can unilaterally designate them [as a very large platform] on the basis of our own investigation.”
The EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA), which came into force earlier this year, requires so-called ‘Very Large Online Platforms’ (those with more than 45 million monthly users) to comply with a host of data protection and advertising-related rules.
Telegram claims to have 41 million monthly users in the EU. It issued a statement on Sunday, saying the company complies with EU laws and content-moderation policies, adding it is “absurd” to claim that Durov is responsible for the misuse of the platform by bad actors.
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