Telegram, a messaging app service has been reported to refuse to join international programmes that promote detecting and removing child abuse material online.
According to the BBC report, Telegram’s boss has been arrested in France following the incident.
Newswebbs learnt via the report, the app is not a member of either the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) or the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) – both of which work with most online platforms to find, report and remove such material.
It comes as the founder and CEO of the app – which has more than 950m registered users – remains in custody in France.
Billionaire Pavel Durov has been detained over alleged offences relating to a lack of moderation on the platform.
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According to officials the 39-year-old is accused of failure to cooperate with law enforcement over drug trafficking, child sexual content and fraud.
Telegram has previously insisted its moderation is “within industry standards and constantly improving”.
However, unlike all other social networks, it is not signed up to programmes like NCMEC’s CyberTipline which has more than 1,600 internet companies registered.
US based firms are legally required to sign up but 16% of the companies who participate are non-U.S. based.
Telegram was founded in Russia but is now based in Dubai, where Mr Durov lives.
The vast majority of child sexual abuse material reports came from tech giants and social networks including – Facebook, Google, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter (X), Snapchat and WhatsApp.
An IWF spokesperson said that “despite attempts to proactively engage with Telegram over the last year, they are not members of the IWF and do not take any of our services to block, prevent, and disrupt the sharing of child sexual abuse imagery.”